Chuck vs the Puzzle
by Jimmy 144
Summary: A new story set at the end of Season 4.  Chuck, Sarah and the crew trying to solve the puzzle.  Were they just pawns?  Who is the Chess master?  They just got married…so what could go wrong?  Chapter 17 posted, a look back.
1. Chapter 1 the Anonymous Buy More

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck. Wanted to get a postseason story started. It is based on episode 4.24, so it will contain spoilers. If you have not, go see that episode first.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 1—the Anonymous Buy More

**Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 3, 2011<strong>

"Guys, I know Kung Fu," Morgan blinked, looking up at Chuck, Sarah and Casey.

Casey looked down at Morgan and shook his head, "How could anyone claim to be planning this out and have it under control with this?" Casey pointed at Morgan.

Chuck couldn't believe after all this; it was going to happen all over again. He was looking at the sunglasses, "You alright buddy?"

"Yeah." Morgan looked up at Casey, "Don't call me this. I am not a this." He was trying to remember what show that was, but he agreed that was a bit offensive.

"Don't worry Morgan. We'll figure something out." Sarah turned her head to Chuck. Her eyebrows narrowed, "Won't we?" She did not want to start this all over either.

"Why should I worry? This is so cool!" Morgan exclaimed. He flashed on some gymnastics and stood up using a handspring. "That is better than awesome."

Sarah's eyes got narrower, "You didn't tell him about the doctor?" She just stared at Chuck. She knew he had problems telling her, but after that was done she had assumed that Morgan knew something about the problem.

Morgan eyes lit up, "What doctor? What are you talking about?"

"Morgan buddy, you'll be alright. It takes a while before something happens," Chuck answered.

"Except for Brad and those idiots. They didn't last that long," Casey smiled.

"Who did not last? What are you talking about? Chuck?" Morgan was starting to whine.

Sarah looked at Chuck's wrist, "Just give him your watch."

Chuck winced. It was from his dad and while he did not have the Intersect, well it just seemed to belong. Chuck looked at the watch for a second, "Buddy, I am not sure this will work. It was tuned for me. We'll probably have to tune it for you, if we can't get the Intersect out." He took off the watch and gave it to Morgan. "It helps with the effects of the Intersect."

Morgan's phone rang before they completed the explanation. He looked at it. Alex's picture was showing, "Oh crap, I forgot. I am supposed to have lunch with Alex. I have to go. I'm not going to die am I?"

Casey shook his head, "Apparently not."

"Casey!" Chuck gave Morgan a pat on the back, "Don't worry Buddy. What could go wrong?"

Morgan went up stairs to the Buy More. Coming out of the break room he was confronted by Jeff and Lester. "Do you know who is buying the store? Are they going to keep it open? Are we going to close? Do you know anything?" were the first questions from Lester.

"Big Mike said to look for the new owners. How can we look for the new owners, if we don't know who they are? Who are they? Did you hear anything yet? Do you still have your job? Does Chuck? He takes off for two weeks and expects a job?" Getting his breath Jeff continued, "Do we keep our jobs? Man, last time was bad. Living in the same cramped space like that."

Lester look at Jeff, "What do you mean? That was us?"

Morgan continued a quick pace to leave them behind, "No guys. I haven't heard anything." He saw Alex and almost ran out of the store.

Alex smiled at him coming. When he got to her, she looked him over. "Morgan, are you okay? You look winded."

"Well, I just out ran Jeff and Lester. They keep asking about the store." Morgan paused and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek.

"You still don't know what is happening with the store? What if it closes? You won't have a job now that your out of the, you know." Alex said in a whisper as a couple of new patrons to Buy More walked in.

"No, it's okay. I don't think the store is going to close. It's just new owners," Morgan smiled. They really had not discussed how they were going to tell everyone. Just then his phone rang, "Yeah Chuck. Sure. No problem. Okay, see you later." Morgan hung up and put the phone away. "Well, where would you like to go? Heard the new place, Conan's Pit, might be good."

Chuck was standing at the table in Castle. Sarah and Casey were with him. Chuck put his phone away, "Okay, we don't tell anyone. We'll keep the names of the owners anonymous." They were going through the rest of the box that Beckman sent. Chuck picked up his old tee shirt, "Say, do you think Carina and Zondra would want to join us?"

Sarah's head snapped, "What? We just got back..."

"Okay, keep me out of this one," Casey growled.

Chuck's eye got big, "What? Oh no. Sarah?" He put the tee shirt down and looked her in the eyes, "They got kicked out of their agencies for helping us, didn't they?"

Sarah nodded and saw where he was going, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. They will be going nuts by now."

Casey smiled, "Either that or some poor guy will be handcuffed to a bed."

Chuck laughed, "I think that's plural, big guy."

"Okay, so how do we handle this?" Sarah picked up some old socks out of the box and immediately dropped them.

"Well, we can't just go out there and start taking down bad guys. We'll have to figure out what's out there," Chuck remarked.

Casey shook his head, "Brilliant, just brilliant." He started to feel like the miner going down the mountain with Butch and Sundance. "We have to connect with Beckman. We can't just go running around shooting people." He smiled to himself, "Well maybe…"

"Casey," Sarah interrupted. "But he is right, we need some backdoor to Beckman. Obviously with Morgan having the Intersect, we will be able to figure out some things on our own."

Both Chuck and Casey looked at her like she was crazy, "Okay, we need to rely on Beckman."

"So, what are you going to do with Volkoff?" Casey asked. He saw the look, "I mean the company."

"Uh well, I guess we have to clean house. We can't have people like that guy Vivian had bossing her around." Chuck smiled, "Maybe that's what we use Morgan for, until we can get the Intersect out."

Casey was curious, "Do you want to get it out?"

Chuck's eyebrows furrowed, "With all we did together, do you want to leave the Intersect in Morgan?"

Casey grunted a "No."

"Well then, we'll see what we can do to get it out," Chuck replied. "I'll have to let Ellie know. She might be able to help."

Sarah was already thinking of Ellie. She was at least getting into her father's files. She would know something about this. Sarah agreed, "That should be fine."

"So what about your Mom?" Casey asked.

"I don't know. We have not told her about this." Chuck looked at Sarah.

"We'll need to get her involved a little. I know you are not going to let the idea that someone is controlling us drop." Sarah saw Chuck agree. "We need to find out if she knows anything."

"You are right. I want to know. I can't let someone get away with having my father killed and just not try to find out," Chuck's eyes pleaded with Sarah. Chuck knew the whole session was about that. He had to find out. Decker could not get away with it. First, try to stop him from saving Sarah, then keep just a terrible secret away from him. He wanted to find out with a passion. They stood in silence going through the box. Chuck remembered, _'dawn of a new chapter…just a pawn…all just part of the plan, just pieces on the puzzle board….see you never, civilian.'_

**Unknown Location  
>June 3, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Mr. O, he took it like you thought. We are still in position," Agent Decker reported.

The reply was, "I know."

**Casa Bartowski, Burbank, CA  
>June 4, 2011<strong>

"Hey Buddy, good morning," Chuck said as he opened the door. Chuck was happy that they were dressed and up. Earlier in the honeymoon, well that was not likely. He smiled. Looking back at Morgan he asked, "What do you want?"

"What? Do you always think I want something if I come over?" Morgan looked passed him to the breakfast table. Seeing some food still there was his reward.

"So, do you want a pancake or not?" Chuck waved Morgan into the apartment.

"Wow, thanks. Hi Sarah." Morgan walked over to the table. "Great chocolate chip, thanks again." He promptly sat at the table and got the serving plate with the pancakes.

"Morgan, what did you want?" Chuck walked over to the table and stood next to him.

Casey was at the door next. He wasn't sure what he would find, but was prepared to close his eyes and leave. He knocked and peaked his head in the apartment, "Sorry, just trying to keep track of him."

Sarah got up from the table. She looked at Casey. He knew from the look she wanted to know more, but first she asked, "Coffee?"

"Hmm, yes." Casey shook his head, "He won't settle down. It's like he has to get up and try some new Kung Fu, Taekwondo or gymnastics routine every other minute. In between he lays there and eats."

"Yeah but this is so great! I can do what Chuck did, all the time!" Morgan was really excited.

Chuck and Sarah were definitely surprised. Chuck patted Morgan on the shoulder and pointed at the pancakes, "Bring them along. We are going to see my sister now."

Morgan scooped up the pancakes on the table and drowned them in syrup. He got up and followed Chuck. Chuck went to the door and Casey and Sarah came along.

Casey looked at Sarah as they went to the door. He said, "Beckman."

Sarah nodded at his suggestion. He was right. They would have to get Beckman involved. She responded with a "Yes."

Chuck knocked on Ellie's door. Morgan was eating the pancakes. Ellie opened it in a minute. "Wow, hi Chuck and everyone." She saw the look of concern on Chuck face. "Okay, what did he do now?"

Morgan shook his head, "Why, why do you always assume I did something wrong?" He saw the look in her eye. "Okay, but it really wasn't my fault. I did not know."

Ellie finished, "That it was loaded?"

Chuck broke in, "General Beckman sent me a box of my stuff. There was a pair of sunglasses in it. They came with the Intersect."

"You mean he has the Intersect?" Ellie's hands were now on her hips. She was really getting upset. She really did believe that since Chuck and Sarah were married now that it was all over. Then she saw it.

They all nodded.

"How bad is it?" Ellie looked at them.

Casey answered, "He can't seem to sit still. And when he does, he is eating."

"Well, I can't exactly take him to the hospital. There will be too many questions." Ellie knew better. There would be nurses all over this and too many people watching.

Mary came around the corner then, "Too many questions about what?"

"Morning Mom," Chuck wondered why she was there.

Sarah had a bright smile, "You stayed overnight?" Sarah remembered her Mother-in-law saying that she was still helping. She could not remember doing something like that since high school. She began to wonder what it would be like. "How was she?"

"Morning dear. Yes, just a perfect little princess." Mary looked at everyone. "Okay, you didn't come over to look at my granddaughter, what happened? Morgan?"

"Why does that happen?" Morgan looked at the sky.

Mary laughed, "I was here long enough to know. So what did you do?"

"I picked up a pair of sunglasses meant for Chuck and downloaded the Intersect," replied Morgan.

"They're still after it," mumbled Mary.

Chuck picked up on that, "What Mom?"

"Nothing. Morgan, are you alright?" Mary asked.

"I'm fine. I'm great," answered Morgan.

The others shook their heads no.

"Well, why don't we go back down to your base?" Mary asked Chuck. "Saw an old friend come into town yesterday. Said he was fixing up the place for you." Her eyes were piecing Chuck's. "You can explain later." Chuck looked down. "If Manny installed the normal complement, Ellie should be able to check Morgan."

"Let's go. I'll tell Devon. He's got Clara this morning. Mom and I were going out shopping," Ellie said as she turned to go tell Devon.

"Gees, I'm sorry. I didn't do this on purpose," Morgan relented.

They all turned and headed out the door. The air almost went out of Morgan. Alex was standing in the courtyard. "Morgan? Dad? What's happening?"

Mary knew from the wedding that Alex was with Morgan and they were getting along fine, even with Casey. She was proud of what Morgan had done. She wanted to help Alex too, so she broke in, "Come along, Honey. We'd like you to know."

Alex caught up with Morgan, "What happened?" She looped her arm through his.

"Why is it always me?" Morgan slumped.

**Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 4, 2011<strong>

The ride over was mainly in silence, each thinking of what was to happen. Alex cradled Morgan's head in her shoulder. She was wondering more than anyone what they were doing. She did not want Morgan to get back involved in the spy business, but having this Intersect thing sure sounded like he would be back in it.

When they got to the rooms below Buy More, Chuck was pointing at the wall, "Morgan, where did that come from?" There was a shield with stars painted on. Under the shield the words 'Intergalactic Federation of Planets' were printed in large letters.

"Well, since we can't call it Castle any more, I thought…" Morgan started to reply.

Casey took the sign down, "No, I'm in charge of new names."

They looked around the facilities. Manny's crew from Volkoff had outfitted the place during the night. Sarah had suggested some changes. Most of the rooms now had wood paneling instead of the stainless steel look of Castle. The conference table had comfortable leather chairs around it. There was still a large screen TV at the end of the conference table.

"Chuck, what's he mean that he's in charge of new names?" Morgan asked.

"While you were laying down playing with Chuck's sunglasses, we decided who has what job. Chuck and Sarah are the President and CEO. I'm Marketing and Sales," Casey answered.

Chuck came out of his wonderment at the new underground, "Hey Buddy, in all the confusion of you getting the Intersect and Decker's puzzle I forgot to ask. Is it alright if we make you the General Manager?"

Alex looked at Morgan with a big smile, "You're going to be the GM?" Then she looked at her dad, "GM of what?"

Ellie got into it, "I thought Morgan is the Manager of Buy More."

Sarah walked back to the group, "The medical station is over on the left. It looks like it has everything." She looked at the group. "Something wrong?"

Mary came up, "Yeah, what is happening? Manny is here for an install and most of your equipment is from Volkoff. Not exactly government issue."

"Well," Chuck looked at Sarah and Casey. He saw he was going to get no help from them. "We really aren't working for the CIA any more. We quit after getting the antidote for Sarah. So…Sarah and I now own Volkoff Industries. We bought the Buy More to use it as a cover for this base of operations. Then General Beckman sent or left a box of my things here and one of the things in the box was a pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses had the Intersect and when Morgan put them on it was downloaded into him. I did give him the governor watch I was wearing, but I don't think it is working for him. Anyway, those are the highlights."

Sarah added, "We did start to name positions in the company. And because they gave up their jobs to save me, we were thinking of offering Carina and Zonda a job with us. Now, you're included."

Chuck's eyes twinkled, "Yeah, Mom can be our Board of Directors."

Morgan was looking down the hall and saw the room to the right. It was the exercise room and outfitted every well. Morgan flashed on the staff and ran down to the room to grab it and practice a few Shaolin Kung Fu Staff moves.

Casey said, "We better start before he breaks something," and went to get him.

Later they were sitting around the conference table, Ellie was explaining to the others the results, "He is asleep right now. I gave him something that should let him sleep for a few hours. As you know, I checked everyone's brain activity to validate the equipment and get a baseline. His activity is very high producing higher Beta and Gamma bands than normal. I did try a few queues that were discussed in Dad's computer files but they did not have an affect. Chuck did tune the watch. And it did have some affect on the neural activity. For right now, continued tuning of the watch is the best course to deal with his problems."

Casey asked, "So there is no way of getting it out?"

"Not right now. I don't even think Chuck has it completely out of his mind. It is just blocked. The sequence of pictures Chuck described from the glasses that Decker used, just block the initial start up sequence." Ellie looked down at her notes.

"Wait a minute, does that mean Alexei Volkoff has a similar block?" Chuck saw her nod her head. "And that the block could be removed."

Ellie looked at him and said, "Yes, you could. For you, it would be like reloading the operating system without erasing all the files."

Mary was watching Chuck and saw his expression change with the recognition, "Have you done that before?"

"Well yes. When I did not have the governor on for a long period when we were fighting Shaw, I was able to reboot from the program I saw when I was a kid. But I tried that after you used that hand display on me. It did not work. And it is not working after those glasses Decker used," Chuck looked down.

"But your dad's program worked. It was on the computer," Sarah started asking. "Where is the computer?"

"It was taken with all of the Castle equipment," Casey stated.

Ellie smiled and almost squealed. She pointed to her bag. "I transferred all the files to mine. It took forever. Maybe the boot program will be on that?"

Ellie got the computer out of her bag. She put it on the table and went through the files. "Look here's Knock Knock." She typed in her password. After a little she had the login ready for Chuck. "See, here it is."

She slid the computer over to Chuck.

**Unknown Location  
>June 4, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

Another report had come in, "Agent Grimes has the Intersect. It did not go to the primary target."

The reply was, "I know."

_A/N Please leave a review. _


	2. Chapter 2 the Watch

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 2—the Watch

**Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 4, 2011<strong>

Ellie slid her computer over to Chuck. They were sure it contained the Intersect that their dad had on his computer. Chuck pushed back from the table. "Ah, I just…Wow, I don't know about this. I mean I know why I did it last time." He looked at Ellie, "Why do I need to do this now?"

Ellie looked at Chuck and then Sarah, "I don't want you to do this. But I don't think we have a choice. I am not sure why you did not come across it, but Dad's notes said that this Intersect version would have the instructions to make updates or adjustments. It'll be coded. But it is in there." She held out her hands, "Let me have the computer and I'll show you the note."

Chuck pushed the laptop back over to Ellie. She hit escape key then went to the file she was talking about. It was a long text with some diagrams. Ellie pointed at the screen, "Okay, here it is. Read from here down."

Chuck's eyes got wide as he went down the page. He nodded his head twice and mouthed Wow once. "We can't tell anyone." He looked around the table to make sure they understood. "You're right. I came close once. I didn't realize what it was and went on. Now I know what the trigger is, I should be able to go right to it."

"I think I know but I have to ask. Would you be able to decipher the Intersect code without downloading the Intersect?" Sarah saw him shake his head no and took his hand, "You know I love you. Do what you need to."

"Okay you two, my recommendation is to smash that computer and burn it. And you know the other part?" Casey asked.

Chuck whispered, "Yes, we need to get the other one back." Casey nodded in agreement.

Mary leaned back, "Well, you sure are going to make a name for yourselves. You get kicked out of the CIA and then attack them at their core to get a computer." She shook her head, "I've tried that a few times myself. It never worked and we lost a lot of good men trying." She looked at Casey and then Chuck, "Remember how difficult it was to get Volkoff out of jail, this will be three or four times harder." She paused for a minute thinking, "They keep all the Project Omaha data and the Intersect information locked in two man control cells. You'll need at least two people with the Intersect to get through simultaneous code pads at the doors. And you're going to need all of Volkoff Industries to do this and certainly more than a Spetsnaz team."

Sarah smiled back at her mother-in-law, "That's why we need your help."

Chuck stared at the computer for a while, "So, I guess there no choice?"

They shook their heads. "Okay, well then, Ellie if you'll get back to that log on page, I'll go in the back room and download it. If I am not back in ten minutes, come get me. Last time this only took a few minutes." Sarah got up and walked back with him.

Alex looked at Casey and motioned for him to come with her. Casey got up and they went to the new armory. Casey was just amazed. Alex said, "Dad, I do love him."

Casey was still looking at the weapons and said, "Wow, great." He was in heaven.

Alex beamed, "Great, I'm glad you approve."

"Oh yes, the best," Casey turned to looked at Alex. He saw a little concern in her face, thinking that she was concerned about Morgan and the Intersect he said, "Don't worry, he'll be okay. Chuck will make sure of that."

"But if you're going to go get that computer, won't he be in danger?"

"Nay, he'll be fine. What could go wrong?" Casey realized what he just said, "Right, everything. We'll make sure we drill it into his head. He'll get it right."

"Somehow, I think I'm supposed to says thanks and how good I feel that you'll be with him." She smiled, "Just don't kill him. I'll be happy."

She got a grunt out of Casey.

In the other room Chuck had set the laptop on the table and was getting ready to sit down. Sarah walked in the room and put her arms around his chest. She just held him. He put his hand over hers.

Chuck looked over his shoulder, "Sarah, is this alright?"

"Yes, just wanted a second." She held him longer.

"I'm glad that I didn't just put on the sunglasses and get the download. And I am happy we get to choose."

She let go of him and he turned around. He took her hands again, "Do you agree?"

"Yes, you have to fix Morgan." She smiled, "That's if he's fixable."

"Oh, now you're going to talk like Casey?" He laughed.

"No," she shook her head. "I love you." Holding back the tears she said, "I'll be outside the door."

Chuck sat down in front of the computer and put in his password. There was a quick, "Welcome back Charles," on the screen and the download began.

Ellie was still sitting at the conference table with her mom. "You know I was wondering. I am still trying to put together the pieces from when you left and why. It was because of Agent X wasn't it?"

"Yes, Hartley was such a sweet man. The profile we made for him was to be used to go undercover for two months, not years and not permanently. I went with him as a part of the test and to protect him. We wanted to see how it worked. But it got away from us. It did not deactivate. I had to stay with him to see if we could fix it. But we never did. Then it got to be trying to control him and his company from doing some really, really bad things," Mary was staring at the wall when she finished.

"Does the Intersect program contain those profiles any more?"

"None that your dad worked on did. He said that they agreed to destroy the code that drove the personality change." Mary paused, "You never saw any personality change in Chuck did you?"

"Huh no, he was up and down over Sarah. There were a couple times when I think they had broken up. Their relationship was complicated to say the least. I am glad they are married." Ellie sounded relieved.

Casey and Alex came back to the conference table and sat down. Alex put her hands to together on the table. She asked, "Will Chuck be able to put something together before Morgan wakes up?"

Mary and Ellie looked at each other. Ellie said, "Well, probably not. But it won't take too long."

Alex kind of slumped back into the chair. Her mind was whirling with concern over Morgan. She knew he was doing better all the time. Her dad was even being nicer to Morgan. She could tell that he cared. So, that was progress. But she was still worried.

In a couple of minutes Chuck jolted back awake. He could tell the download worked. The Intersect was back and active. He flashed:

_Aces_

_Call _

_Extract c:\omaha\options\cabs\build_

He closed the laptop and swung around. "Sarah?" He saw her peak around the corner, "I'm okay." Smiling he said, "I know Kung Fu."

"I'm going to Kung Fu you."

"Sounds like a promise," his eyebrows were going up and down. He got up and went to her. They embraced and kissed.

Sarah was smiling, "Fine by me, later tonight."

Chuck went back and got the laptop. "Okay, let's see what we can do." Chuck took her hand and they went back to the conference room.

Ellie was on the phone with Devon, "Hey honey, Chuck and Sarah are back. I'll call you back and let you know how long we'll be. Bye. Kisses to my sweethearts."

Chuck and Sarah took their places at the table. Chuck looked at everyone, "Okay, this will take a while. The good news is that the information is in there. The bad news is they must have started out in DOS, and then there were large blocks of Fortran. It will take me a while to get through what they were doing. Then I have to find out what is in the sunglasses and then set up a program for Morgan."

Casey already grimaced at the DOS and Fortran explanation. He growled, "So when will you get done?"

Chuck thought about it, "Probably tomorrow night."

Sarah asked, "What do you need?"

"Ellie's laptop, the sunglasses, some pizzas," Chuck smiled at Sarah.

"Right, well get started. I'll get you some pizza. Ellie, Morgan probably does not need to wake up before Chuck is ready. We should have some tranquilizer in the armory." Sarah started to get up.

Casey added, "Be happy to help."

Ellie smiled back, "That's okay. I saw something in the medical station that will take care of it."

Mary looked at Ellie's laptop, "Oh one thing, remember, that computer does not get connected to the Internet."

"Yeah, I know," Chuck commented.

When Ellie got back from Morgan, she looked at her watch, "Mom, we have time to get to a couple stores. Alex, do you want to come along? He won't be awake until after dinner?"

"Sure," Alex got up and followed.

They went up stairs and looked at the monitor and walked into the break room. They managed to get by the offices and out to the sales floor of the Buy More. Ellie's eyes went wide as she saw Jeff and Lester coming up to them.

Lester said to Jeff, "Some promise. The women who control this store."

Jeff looked at him with the question mark obviously on his face, "What do you mean? That's just Chuck's mom and sister. And…"

"Right, and Morgan's new squeeze and Casey's daughter. Does that show you who is controlling things?"

"You mean, they are the new owners?'

"No, my good man. You are looking at the people with the power over this store," Lester concluded.

Jeff's eyes got big. "So they'll know…" As Ellie started to walk pass them, Jeff said, "Good morning ladies."

Ellie was still happy with Jeff over the pictures for the rehearsal party. She felt secure enough to reply, "Good morning."

Jeff thought he had just won the lotto, they were talking to him. He went for the gold. If Lester thought they controlled everything, they would know. "Do you know who owns the store?"

Ellie was caught off guard, "Buy More, doesn't it?"

Lester caught up and said, "No, they gave us away like little lost puppies. We have a new owner and are looking to see who that is."

Maybe it was the way he said it or maybe the reference to them as lost puppies, but Ellie did not like it. She just nodded and hoped by moving ahead they could get passed them.

Lester was going to try to get in front of them to stop them, but the glare from Mary convinced him that was a bad idea. He went back to the Nerd Herder desk. Jeff followed. They were amazed at the two new patrons to Buy More and thought perhaps they would know.

Alex kept stride with Ellie and her mom. She looked at the entrance and saw Carina and Zondra. She was definitely impressed. They always managed to look like models with perfect hairstyles, make-up and clothes. She wondered, _'How could Morgan…no, I am not going there. He said there was nothing. And she was nice at the wedding. Everything is okay. He did say he loves me. Not going there.' _Alex waved at the two. They walked toward each other. Alex said, "Hey, you two. What's up?"

Carina answered, "We're here to talk about a job with Chuck and Sarah." She looked at the Nerd Herd desk and Jeff and Lester. Turning back to Alex, "It's not for here, is it?"

Alex thought about where Carina was looking. She quickly shook her head. That was disgusting. "No."

Ellie smiled, "Good morning, I'll call Sarah and let them know you're here." She got out her phone and got Sarah, "Hey, Carina and Zondra are here. Yeah, we're at the front of the store. Okay, we'll meet you over there." She put the phone back, "Sarah will be up in a minute. She'll meet us over at the Bear Brewed Coffee shop."

Zondra said, "That's fine. Where's your little one?"

Ellie laughed, "Which little one?" After they gave each other a hug she went on, "Devon's home with Claire, so we can do a little shopping."

Carina smiled, "So where is your bearded one?"

"Actually, he's asleep and yes, we are still together," Alex responded.

Carina nodded. This sounded more and more like Sarah and Chuck. Smiling she took Alex's arm and they headed out of Buy More.

Sarah was down with Chuck at the conference table when she got Ellie's call. When she finished the call, she turned to Chuck, "You want me to bring them down here?"

"Sure. I mean if they are interested. We really do need more help." He looked at her, "Okay?"

"Oh yes, everything is good with us. I trust them. Be back in a little," Sarah said and then turned to go down the corridor.

After she left Casey was still looking at the armory. Chuck asked, "Yeah big guy, everything okay back there? Did we get what you wanted?"

"Yes, this will work. How are you doing on the computer?"

"Flashed on the instruction files, so this might be easier," Chuck answered. "I know what my Dad was doing and how he did it. Now I am trying to figure out the glasses."

"Well, I am due at the Buy More," Casey growl.

"Be careful up there, I don' know how much insurance we have," Chuck said as Casey turned to go up the stairs.

"I don't need insurance."

Chuck shook his head, "We do." He imaged Jeff and Lester thrown head first into a TV or broiled over a Beast Master.

Back up at Bear Brewed Coffee Sarah saw the girls getting their coffee and heading toward a table. Ellie saw her and held up an extra coffee cup. Sarah waved back and went to the table. Sarah greeted both Carina and Zondra, "Thanks for coming. And I'll get right to it. We want you to join us." She looked around, "After our departure from our previous employer, we found that some things still needed to be done. We will need you to be able to complete the jobs. We'll explain down stairs."

"If it's the same jerks that were in front of the hospital, we would be happy to help." Carina stirred her coffee. "Just as long as we don't have to work with those things in the Buy More."

Ellie laughed, "You mean Jeff and Lester?" She saw Carina nod.

"No, you won't. We'll have Casey keep them away," Sarah offered.

Zondra looked at the others, "Are you in this too?"

Mary smiled, "I'm more like an advisor but yes we are."

Ellie noticed Carina look at her, "Yes, I'm helping out with medical issues. And so will Devon."

Carina slightly shrugged, "We'll see what Chuckles has to say."

"Carina," Sarah looked at Carina rather crossly.

"Okay, Chuck," Carina responded.

They finished their coffees. Sarah, Carina and Zondra headed back to underneath the Buy More. Mary, Ellie and Alex began their shopping.

Carina and Zondra agreed to join after learning the whole story. Later when the shoppers got back down to the conference room, Chuck and Casey joined them.

Carina was smiling at Casey, "So this isn't Castle any more. Are you going to call it your man cave?"

Mary shook her head, "Oh please. I have to come down here too."

"Careful, Morgan will wake up and start calling in Control," Alex said.

Casey growled, "More like KAOS. No. No names right now."

Chuck tried to refocus things, "Okay for our problem today, I've been able to scan the files in the sunglasses. It appears it was a reboot and a refresh but not a whole Intersect," he looked down at his notes.

"That could explain a few things," Ellie started. "I'll have to look at how it is working, but maybe you can have a partial Intersect."

Sarah asked, "Like the one Manoosh made?"

Chuck agreed, "Yes, that's right. I don't know if Manoosh could take the full Intersect. We never did see his records. But essentially it would be the same thing. Only…" he paused.

Casey grumbled, "What's wrong with it?"

"Is he going to be alright?" Alex eyes got wide.

"Yes, I think we can get the watch tuned so he calms down and is not training for the Olympics all the time. There was a routine that would allow for some minor changes to the Intersect, but I would rather use the watch first," Chuck said in a hopeful tone. "But like I said, it really only contained an update. The good news is that the part with the lock combinations is probably up-to-date with the quarterly changes in there. And the new listing of bad guys appears to be included but the files may only include the new information. The bad news is he really doesn't know all of Kung Fu. He only knows the moves that were updated. So, if there was a modification to a weapon recently, he'll be able to flash on it and should know spec changes."

"So, can you tell what all he knows or not?" asked Casey.

"No, that would probably take too long to go through it all," Chuck shook his head.

Mary tilted her head looking at Chuck, "Can you download the information in the sunglasses yourself and see what is there?"

Chuck's eyes narrowed, "You want me to?"

"Only if it will help," Mary said back.

"If I do, I'll have the same information, but I don't know if I will be able to tell the updated information from the what was already there," Chuck replied.

Alex said, "But the new information would be better, won't it?"

Chuck agreed, "Yes, but I'll get the watch ready for him first."

"Will you ever be able to get it out of him?" Alex asked.

"Maybe. Dad did it once. He matched every file and piece of information I had. But that will still take a while even with the glasses." Chuck concluded.

Alex's phone began to ring. She got it after seeing that it was Big Mike, "No, he won't be able to make it in today. He's sick and has not gotten up since early this morning. Sure. Got it, the monthly orders and the list for the 4th. Okay, I'll let him know."

Chuck and Sarah's eyes just got real big, "How do we run the Buy More?"

**Unknown Location  
>June 4, 2011<strong>

There was a statue of an eagle on the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "They are together."

The static sounding reply, "Copy."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	3. Chapter 3 the Black Swan

ofLet us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 3—the Black Swan

**Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 5, 2011<strong>

"Morgan, Morgan. Hey buddy, you awake? Morgan," Chuck was shaking his shoulder trying to wake him up. This was the third attempt at the watch. The first two were a bit disastrous. On the first attempt, Morgan was still flashing on Kung Fu moves and knocked Casey out. The second time he kept eating until he started throwing up. Morgan spent most of the time with his head over the toilet. And it was a while before Casey agreed to tranq him again. Casey called it his fairness doctrine.

Chuck was sure this one was going to work. He found the extra code that was included in this Intersect download and compensated for it with the watch and a little download of his own design. He had also asked everyone to come in on Monday to discuss the possibilities related to the code. Morgan was starting to make his wake up groans and Chuck turned his attention to him. "Hey Buddy, wake up," Chuck continued.

Alex was beside them. She was there when he woke up the last two times. She was very surprised that her father hadn't broken something. She was feeling good about Morgan's chances this time. She watched him as he came awake.

"Oh, hi honey," Morgan tried to focus on Alex. "Everything okay?"

Alex smiled, "Well, that's what we are about to see. Do you feel like sitting up?"

"Yeah sure, but first…ah excuse me…I need to use the restroom." He saw Chuck on the other side of the bed, "Say where are we and where's the restroom. I really have to go."

"Stand up first. Lets see if you can make it that far." When Morgan did, Chuck said, "It's just down the hall. Can you walk there by yourself?"

Morgan tentatively tried a few steps, "I'm fine. Got it." He quickly left the room and went to the restroom.

Casey saw Morgan going down the hall and came into the room, "Nothing on track and field or sprints, right?"

Chuck smiled. "No, just compensating for the water we gave him after getting dehydrated."

Casey grunted.

Morgan came back with a smile on his face. "So, how do I know if this works?"

"You should act and feel normal," Chuck said in response.

"Yeah, how do we know…" Casey started.

"Dad," Alex moaned.

Ellie came from behind the equipment, "We have a remote monitor on him. I'll be able to tell whether there are any problems."

"I do have a couple of new pictures to look at, see if you know anything about them." Chuck showed Morgan the first picture. Morgan shook his head no. Then the next picture was the same.

The last picture caused a flash. They watched Morgan's eyes flutter and then roll a little. "Okay, well he's a bad guy. Tupelo Pilsner, nicknamed the Torpedo, a hit man that graduated to arms sales. Was a world-class sniper, got a bad eye from a knife fight. Recently has long list of hits mostly with an RPG-7. Last known location was the Sudan." Morgan finished, "Wow! Is that what it is normally like?"

Casey smiled at Morgan, "All except for that rolling thing."

"What?" Morgan turned back to Ellie, "So was there anything unusual about that on your equipment?"

"No, looked about the same as Chuck. You don't have any abnormal readings," Ellie pronounced.

"Any urges to force a flash? Like, you saw the exercise room on the way to and from the restroom, any need to try out the equipment?" Chuck asked.

"Uh no, I'm good. I'm not in a rush. I can imagine what it will be like with Casey trying to show me how to fight," Morgan replied.

Casey smiled and shook his head, "No, you can't." His smile got bigger as he thought about it.

Ellie looked at Chuck, "I guess he can go. We are not getting any of the readings like the last two times, or before." She pointed to the monitor and then said to Casey and Alex, "We have this set up so that Morgan's remote gets automatically monitored for any changes. Then if there is any problem, I'll get an alert." She held up her phone. "Come on, if we head back now, we might make it before Claire gets up. I'm sure Sarah would appreciate that."

Chuck agreed, "I am ready." He looked at the other three. "See you later. Have to rescue my wife."

"Hey that's your niece, you're talking about," Ellie poked him in the arm.

Morgan looked at Casey, "So, did you decide on a name? How about Castle Keep? Mission Control?"

**Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 6, 2011<strong>

Everyone was down at the conference table. Chuck and Sarah had stopped and got coffee and croissants. Morgan was still working on Casey, "How about the MCP? Okay, the ICP?" Morgan saw that Casey was just staring at him. "Well, you better find something before we start calling it BBM for Below the Buy More."

Chuck checked that his iPhone was in place and looked over at Morgan like he had just spoken heresy. "Well, let's get started. The problem I wanted to talk about was the code I found in the Intersect. I don't want to sound dramatic, but the only thing I can figure is the code was designed to kill me or get all of you killed. On one hand I could have done like Morgan and just punched my way to oblivion. Either something would have gone wrong in the exercise program or I would have literally worn out."

Devon added, "Ellie and I went over the results from Morgan's monitoring strip. If we hadn't stopped this, he or Morgan would have starved themselves or their heart would have gone."

"The other way would have been based on a trigger in the program. There was a timer, but basically it was a kill mechanism. I would have been sent to kill my family and friends. So, the question is who would have done this and how could they get it in the program?" Chuck asked.

"Would Vivian and her staff of scientists had a shot at doing this?" Carina asked.

"Well, they could. But why do that and at the same time give us the company?" Sarah replied.

Zondra said, "That's worth looking into. Could have been planted it before things changed."

"Well, we still have to go through the staff at Volkoff and might find a tie in." Chuck looked at Mary, "Mom, is there anyway the people who claim to be controlling us would have done this?"

"Sure, if they sent Decker, they still could be out to end this. It would be one way of doing it without any fingerprints," Mary looked back at Chuck. "Also, if you think the code could have turned you against your family and friends, then someone had to have gone back to get the code that turned Hartley into Alexei."

Casey grimaced, "So Decker wasn't trying to throw us off. Someone is behind all of this."

"If they know how to do this, do we still need to get that computer back?" Sarah asked.

"I think so. It has the information that would allow you to put the Hartley code in place. So we need it," concluded Chuck.

"So, just to make sure. You are not going to download the Intersect from the Sunglasses," Sarah said.

"No, I modified it. I can go over it with you to show you where the code is taken out. I think I still need to download it for the more recent info. But I agree, you have to agree before I do," Chuck offered.

Zondra spoke up, "I can go over it to make sure he did it right. I haven't used it much, but my degree was in computer science."

Carina smiled, "Yeah, after all she is the CAT's techy."

Chuck looked over at her. He hadn't got an explanation of the CATs and what their particular jobs where. He was happy that someone could back him up. "Then the priorities of our venture are taking down the controlling element, getting the computer back and getting the Intersect out of Morgan."

"Hey buddy, haven't you forgot something? Like…" Morgan started.

"No, we aren't going to name it right now." Casey grumbled.

"No, I meant the order for the 4th of July sale. We have to send in the orders now or we won't get the merchandize before the 4th," Morgan shrugged his shoulders and held up some papers.

Mary added, "You're going to have to check in on Volkoff too. Alexei had them jumping all the time, but it still took almost half his time to keep it running."

Chuck just looked at Sarah. Sarah said, "Well, if we keep the cover here, Morgan, Casey and you have to stay working Buy More some of the time." She got multiple head nods after saying that. "Alex, I know you still have a lot going now, but could you be the liaison between the owners of Buy More and the store? That way you and Morgan can work out the list of things for sales and such."

Alex smiled at the idea, "Sure that should be fun."

Morgan smiled at her. His eyes were blinking and a little quiver went up his spine. He'd watched Chuck when Sarah was in control. Chuck always put her safety first. He always listened to her. But Morgan wondered. He started to remember back about Anna and the apartment. This would be new.

Chuck thought about that too. Jeff and Lester were a factor in this. They were certainly on the trail on the owners. Chuck decided to add, "If Jeff and Lester start bugging you at all…"

Casey growled, "They're mine." He looked at Alex, "Any questions?"

Alex's eyes got bigger. She understood. So did the rest.

"So, how are we going to take care of Volkoff?" Sarah asked.

**Volkoff Industries, Russia  
>June 8, 2011<strong>

"Great, we're here. Now what?" Morgan asked.

"Since we went through everyone's record, and already dismissed those that looked like a real threat, we can go through the business reviews and see what needs to be done. If you or I flash on someone for some reason, we'll act depending on whether they are doing something threating at the time. Otherwise, Casey will escort them from the room and we'll question them after the session," Chuck explained.

"Okay," Morgan sat next to Alex. He was happy she came. While having Casey along on the trip meant no 'funny business,' it was a fun trip and Alex was enjoying it.

The front table did look formidable. Chuck, Morgan and Casey were in black and grey suits. Chuck wore a white shirt, Morgan a grey shirt and Casey a black shirt. The girls had dressed in a similar fashion with pantsuits and their hair pulled up in harsh buns.

Mary had agreed that the current company treasurer could be trusted. His name was Peter Romin. He did not come up on a flash from Morgan or Chuck. He was in charge of putting the schedule together and introduced the speakers. As the briefings progressed, Casey was intrigued by some of the armaments. There were more questions from Chuck and Morgan when a weapon system in the Intersect was presented. But the briefings stayed on track.

One briefing caught Chuck's interest without a flash. It was on Hologram technology. Chuck remembered back to Hydra and the Contessa, but this briefing was different. Chuck asked for a demonstration. The speaker said, "We thought you would." He pushed a button and from behind the screen a life size figure came to the center of the room.

"Well, I see you got the gig. You ready to take over the world?" Ted Roark asked as he walked to the center of the room.

One would have thought it was a drug bust. Every weapon in the room was produced in a second.

Chuck stammered, "What is this?" They stood there in amazement.

"Well, I like to call it, Ted greets the little people. I did a few things since we last met. Didn't travel much. But I bought another island at your expense. Oh what else, I invented a new visual operating system that is going to change the world! Let's not waste any more time, can you imagine how much money you're losing by me just standing here? When I push this button, you will have access to Holo. Projecting you or your friends anywhere." Roark held a signaling button in his hand and pushed it.

Behind Roark another Chuck and Sarah appeared.

The real Sarah pointed her gun at the speaker, "Turn this off, now." Her mouth was tight and her words came out as a sinister growl. The Holos walked back behind the screen. "What is the meaning of this?"

Peter crawled back out from behind his chair, "Sev, what have you been working on?"

The speaker, Sev, began, "Like I explained in the introduction, we have been working holographic technology for the past thirty years. With each advancement in processing technology we have been able to make a significant advancement. We are now in the position of projecting real life Holos. We use those cubes positioned around the room. Alexei always liked us to use one of his rivals. We started with Ted Roark. Over the years we got a fairly accurate Roark put together. The Holos use an AI processor. But we have studied Roark for a long time, we are certain we have his mannerisms and language on target."

Chuck looked at Sev and then Peter, "You'll excuse us for a minute. We need to discuss a few things." Chuck left the conference table and walked to the door behind them. He opened the door for Sarah and the ladies. When they got in the other room, Chuck asked, "What do you think?"

Morgan was excited, "How cool was that! Can you imagine what we could do with that? We would become bigger than any video game or entertainment company in the world."

Casey growled, "I don't like it. It's too real. Hunting Hussein was hard enough with decoys. This would make it almost impossible."

Chuck smiled, "I know, but that wasn't what I was thinking either. You're both right. I was wondering what was happening back thirty years ago. Mom?" He turned to his mother, "Dad was always angry at Ted Roark. And he really did turn out to be an enemy. He was with Fulcrum. But how could he be one of Alexei's main enemies from when they started on the Hologram technology? And when did the split occur between the engineering for the database of Hydra and these Holos?"

"They started together," Mary began. "Your dad started on the AI. Hartley was working on the video, hardware and databases. Roark was working the profiles, not only what the subjects looked like, but how they acted and their mannerisms. It was another project like Agent X only a predecessor. I was never sure what happen with Roark, but he left. And as Steven used to say, stole all his ideas.

"Steven found something related to the AI overlapped with storing information in images. Steven, Hartley and a few others began to work Project Omaha. Roark started his own company."

Chuck asked, "But why would Alexei consider Ted Roark an enemy? I understand that if Dad considered him an enemy that Hartley could have too. But Hartley wasn't Alexei. Why did Alexei not like him?"

"There was a clash between the two over a bid on a contract. They both believed the other cheated." She saw he looks around the table, "Okay remember this was at the start. Things began to snow ball after that, each went downhill and became what you last saw of them."

"How do you know what happened with Roark?" Casey was staring at Mary, starting to wonder again, whether to trust her or not.

"We gave Steven the information about the computer at Roark Industries," Mary said with a straight face.

Chuck was completely abashed, "Mom, what did you do?"

"Alexei found through one of our services that Roark Industries was putting together a very powerful computer, he thought that it could be used against his company. Alexei was trying to compete and assemble a computer that would be bigger and faster than Roark's. At the same time, Steven found that Roark was building an Intersect. He and I knew the Intersect had to be eliminated. Alexei agreed to give me the information he had so that the computer would be destroyed. So when NSA raided Roark industries, we were able to eliminate the computer," Mary explained.

"So, Alexei thought you were behind the Roark departure?" Casey asked staring at Mary.

"Well, that's what I wanted him to believe. Frost had to keep the cover going," Mary stared back at Casey.

Casey growled, "Hum."

"So, what they have here at Volkoff Industries is safe?" Chuck asked.

Mary looked at her son, "As safe as anything at Volkoff. Casey was right. Just like any weapon, it can be used for good or evil. You decide."

Morgan jumped in again, "Yeah, but this can be used for movies and games and wow, talk about a whole new RPG." He saw the look on Casey's face. "Role playing game, only with this you could be anyone and in anything. Just think, you could have them refine the Holos of you guys and run the company from LA using your Holos here."

Chuck smiled at Morgan. He was starting to agree. He looked over at Sarah, "What do you think?"

"I think I would be concerned about my Holo doing something that I did not want," Sarah eyebrows went up. "But I do agree with Morgan. This probably has the best opportunity of being a moneymaker, than anything else we have seen. How do we take care of it?"

Chuck answered, "Zondra and I can get with Sev and his engineers and see what is behind the Holos. You guys might want to do a little brain storming on what this could be applied to. For example, if we developed this for the military would it help with training? Could you use the Holos for instructors?"

"So are some of us going to stay here and some go back to Burbank?" Mary asked. "We still need to get that computer back."

"Yeah, I know. We could start planning for it. Even if some of us go back we should be okay. We set up the communications between here and the Buy More so we could be at either place." Chuck looked around, "Well, let see if Peter has any more surprises."

**Unknown Location  
>June 8, 2011<strong>

LOG\Contact

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	4. Chapter 4 the Holo

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 4—the Holo

**Volkoff Industries, Russia  
>June 9, 2011<strong>

Morgan was standing in front of the conference table. He said he wanted to show Chuck, just how much fun the Holo program could be. Chuck and Sarah had been talking about it themselves when they entered the room. Everyone had been involved in the process. Chuck and Zondra had been working on the technical side of the Holo program. They spent time with Sev and the staff going over the details. Morgan convinced the others to go along with a brainstorming session to see what ideas they had for the program. While the others started planning the mission to get Steven Bartowski's computer back, Morgan convinced Alex to join him at the terminal for Holo development. Morgan was smiling. He had found it.

There was a blink in the lighting to get everyone's attention. The large conference room was already a stark projection of the old Volkoff Industries. Windows with bars across them were covered by dark red drapes. High leather backed chairs lined the walls. There were no other seats in front of the conference table. It was an open space to the back wall, some fifty feet away. Several blue curtains appeared from the sides of the conference room.

Morgan had entered from the back of the conference room. After each step closer to the conference table a curtain closed. Morgan was smiling the whole way to the front of the conference table.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming to our little presentation of Holo. I would like to introduce you to my partner in this endeavor." Alex appeared at Morgan's side and a curtain swung closed. "We used some of the ideas from our brainstorming session. But I can see from your smiles, that you know, we're not entirely here." Morgan and Alex began to disappear from their feet to their smiles.

Alex entered again to the middle of the room from behind a curtain. Her hair was gathered on top of her head with curls showing from the top down the sides. She had large earrings that dangled down to her shoulders. She was dressed in dark robes. Moving in back of her was a star background. "A beginning is a very delicate time, know then that any thing is possible and any time is possible." She moved to the side and the screen changed to a tropical rainforest environment, "We can begin at the beginning or advance to the battles of the future." The background blinked and the room transformed to a spaceship transport deck with two figures battling with light sabers. "There can be plays," the screen change to the Globe and a presentation of Romeo and Juliet with Chuck and Sarah in the starring roles. "Movies," the screen went to the high plains of the Rockies with a group of riders appearing at the back of the scene. One had a white straw hat. "Or Games," the scene changed to the fifty yard line at the Cowboys stadium with the Packers and Steelers lining up for the next play.

Morgan came from the scene in a referee's outfit, "Or fantasy games." He blew the whistle and the players changed from the Packers and Steelers to a mix of uniforms from several teams. The scene blinked again and Morgan came out in an airline uniform, "We can use this as an advanced flight deck for any platform." The scene rotated from a multiengine airliner, to a ship, and then a tank. Morgan came from the side again. This time he was in a tuxedo and Alex came from the other side in a tight black cocktail dress. "Or you can use it like Casey said for deception," in a blink there were twenty more Morgans and Alexes. Each walked off the other side of the scene.

Morgan came back out to the center, "Now to market this we sell the cubes, what I'll call a game station, and the apps. The cubes as we have seen are the video component. The more cubes you use the better the video."

Alex came out with one of the game stations, "I am not as sure as Morgan about what to call this. It was the terminal I used to set up the presentation you saw. It is powerful enough to be used as a personal computer but could be made into a tablet. And the real power behind this is the software. We thought it could be sold as a basic package and then with add on apps."

Morgan came together with Alex in the front of the table, "So what do you think?"

Chuck was happy, "Really good, Buddy. Alex, you did all that from the terminal?"

Alex was a little shy about this, "Yes, it was fairly simple."

Casey was beaming, "Proud of you."

Sarah smiled at Alex too, "Yes, that was very good."

Chuck nodded, "Okay, couple things. Obviously, I think we would rather sell this than weapons. That has been my biggest problem. While I can see us as freelance spies and I am still trying to figure out how that works. I have a hard time thinking that we would be behind arms sales to warring factions in some place like Darfur. So a big yes, I would like to sell this as an entrainment and training platform." He turned to Sarah.

"I agree with Chuck. I would rather focus Volkoff on games than weapons." She smiled at Chuck. "Do you want to explain what you found?"

"Sure, this technology is actually just beginning. The processing power, visual projection and databases are the keys to this. And for Casey, I'll try to keep this on a See Spot Run level. When Sev had Ted Roark say he bought a new island, he wasn't kidding. The company now owns an island in the Mediterranean. Don't get too excited about going there. The island is covered by one big building housing a huge processing center." Chuck paused and looked at Casey, he decided not to spend the next hour explaining the size and technical aspects of the center. Especially after hearing a low growl starting to come from Casey. "Now the visual cubes are rather advanced. They collect a picture of the current environment so they can change it. I'm sure you have all seen the noise cancelling headset sets for airline travel. Simply they create a sound wave to cancel out the noise sound waves. Then the music you're playing comes out without that noise. These cubes are doing the same thing, in this room especially. When Morgan and Alex changed the scenes, the cubes in back of us along with those in front of us managed that visual cancellation and then displayed the new scene. Again what Morgan said was correct, the more cubes the better the video." Chuck held up one of the cubes, "I should also include that the cubes are very sensitive speakers. They would certainly provide cancellation and a crisp sound to match someone's voice." The Casey growl was getting bigger, so Chuck went to the next area. "For the databases, well they are the final key to this. Again back to Sev, Ted Roark was their best example of a stand alone Holo. He has an AI background that is based on Roark in detail over the years. So the Roark Holo could go to an interview on this new product and answer any kind of question. That is contrasted to the Holos of Alex and Morgan at the end. While they looked normal, they only walked off the set." Casey smiled at that. "Now, don't get me wrong. That function is well suited to watching movies. You can load the movie and the system will play it with the appropriate scene and actors using a holographic projection." Chuck nodded to Zondra.

"To answer Sarah's question of how to make sure her Holo does not do something that she would not want, we can load instructions or safety instructions into the program that will ensure the Holos obey our rules. For marketing the entertainment part of this, it would be as easy as adding the PG or PG-13 type ratings for movies and games. For others we will imbed instructions into the main processor," Zondra concluded.

"Does anyone have any questions or concerns about this?" Chuck asked.

Carina looked over, "So are they solid?"

Sarah's eyes got big, "Carina."

Chuck intervened, "No, they are not solid. If you put a hand against one, it will just go through the image. There maybe a little sparkling around the edges where you push through. When we asked Sev about that, he said that the Holos with AI turned on would be able to act like you touched them, pushed them or whatever. But you won't feel anything. They did say they are working on that as the next evolution in Holo technology."

"So, anything else," Chuck looked around. "Okay, then it's a go. We'll send instructions to Peter and get them started. Unless anyone has something else they have to do here, I suggest we head on back to Burbank."

Chuck was next to Sarah and when they started to get up he asked her, "So what do you think?"

"Oh, I like the idea of the Holos better than being a weapons trader. I am very glad we found something like that. But you are right; we need to think about how to do freelance spy work. We don't want to be put on everyone's hit list," Sarah replied.

"Well, maybe we ought to start with Beckman. She did send the sunglasses," Chuck shrugged.

"Probably best," nodded Casey. "She'll at least want to know whether you have the Intersect."

Mary looked over at Chuck, " Are you still planning on loading that one she sent?"

Chuck nodded, "Yeah, now that we are done with Volkoff for bit. Zondra has already checked it again. I should be able to load it without any problem." They started leaving the conference room.

Morgan interrupted, "Hey, I had them box up a couple Holo systems for us. What do you think a little COD action when we get back?"

"Sure, that should be fun," Chuck answered. He looked at Sarah, "That alright? We haven't played in a while?"

She gave him a kiss, "Sure."

Casey whispered to Chuck, "Learning. Ask first."

**Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA  
>June 11, 2011<strong>

"I know it's a Saturday. Look be happy, we got to play COD last night," Chuck said shaking his head.

Alex chimed in, "Yea, I spent the entire time with Death Valley days, revisited. You know you…"

"Okay. Okay. I know it's all my fault. But we could have slept in for a little longer." Morgan's eyes rolled.

"Okay children, we still have to get this done. You all know your places, " General Beckman said from the middle of the room.

All three eyes went wide.

Sarah looked up from the terminal smiling and laughing.

Chuck looked back at her, "Okay, too much terminal time. Let's finish this and we'll see what we can do."

Ellie and Devon came around from the side. Devon had Clara in a carrier. "Well Bro, you ready to do this?"

"Yes. I guess you can watch and monitor how it goes. Using the sunglasses, you shouldn't have any problems." Chuck picked up the glasses. He saw the equipment set up in the next room. "Okay, let's do this." He walked into the next room and everyone followed.

Sarah gave him a kiss first, "Remember our promise."

Chuck sat down and Ellie started to connect the leads, Chuck looked at Sarah and nodded. He turned to Ellie, "You ready?"

"Ready."

He put on the glasses. The download was fast. He leaned back for a little, took off the glasses and said, "Hey guys, I know…"

Sarah was about to swat him.

"Hey, I was going to say I know what we ought to do next. How about we go on a picnic with Clara?"

**CIA bunker, VA  
>June 13, 2011<strong>

Morgan and Casey were sitting in the van in a large parking lot. It was crowded. They spent ten minutes just looking for a good place to park. Morgan looked at Casey and tried again, "How about Area 51? Or Alpha Base?" As he heard the growl get larger, he quit.

Mary face appeared on one of the screens, "Any contact yet?"

"Chuck and Sarah are walking over to the door now. Zondra and Carina are in place," Casey reported back.

Morgan responded by rote, "As soon as they open the door, I'll go join Chuck and Sarah."

Mary added, "I have the control room and their displays."

Sarah twisted the handle, "Okay, got it. Morgan, come on." Sarah and Chuck nodded at each other. They went in the maintenance door of the bunker. The bunker was one of the CIA's storage sites. It was in the middle of several office buildings.

Chuck rechecked the door for an alarm. He found the wires and made sure they were bypassed. Putting up two Holo cubes effectively blocked their image and showed the door closed. As an added feature there was a small mouse shown gnawing away at the door.

Mary reported, "Well, that worked. They are passing off the alarm to the mouse."

Chuck, Sarah and Morgan moved down the hallway. Mary guided them to ensure they did not appear in the displays until the cubes were positioned. At the first corridor they turned to the right. After going a ways, there was a set of stairs going down. Chuck went further down the hall to the next crosswalk and came back. They went down the stairs and turned left going down another set of stairs. Chuck went to the left down the corridor again and came back.

Casey checked in, "Status?"

"We are down two levels about to go in the hall with the room. So far no other activity," Sarah nodded at Chuck to proceed. They went down the hall and turned right. Chuck went passed the door and down the hall again. When he came back to the door, he and Morgan stood in front of the keypads. They both forced a flash. After seeing a series of numbers and letters in their flashes, Morgan and Chuck entered the passwords at the same time. They went in the room and each set up two cubes. After turning to the right wall, Chuck and Morgan felt along the wall until they found the next set of keypads. They entered the same numbers again and the door opened. Steven's computer was sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Going to the corners they placed another set of cubes.

Casey called out, "You have two minutes."

"We are in the room, getting ready to pick up the computer," Sarah began. "Okay I have it."

The alarms sounded. Casey said, "Response time one minute."

Closing the doors of the two rooms, they got out into the hallway. Chuck pointed and waved, "Well, there's Hartman. On cue as usual."

Hartman and two other clowns waved back.

At the next cross hall, Morgan looked down and waved. The girls waved back. It was a special from Carina, the girls from the Swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Casey called out, "Eyes straight, soldier."

Mary came on line, "At least two patrols in pursuit. First patrol at the rooms."

The first patrol entered the room with their guns out. They saw the keypads on the right wall and opened that door. The laptop was sitting on the pedestal. They turned to the door. A man in a leather jacket entered the room. The door closed. He shrugged his shoulders and started throwing the ball against the wall. "We'll be here for a while."

Sarah ran up the next stairs with Chuck following Morgan. They could see the Director of the CIA and several prominent Senators in the hall discussing something. Up the next stairs they looked and a SWAT team in full tactical gear were in position to take down intruders. They ran down the hall and took a left.

Mary reported, "Second team, should be meeting the Director now."

"Whoa, gentlemen is there something we can do for you?" the Director asked.

The lead from the patrol recognized his Senator. While he did not vote for the man, he realized how important it was to get this group, out of the hall and to some place safe. Assuming he was talking to a senior, "Sir, we have an possible intrusion. I would like to escort you to a safe area."

Sarah was put the door first, then Morgan and finally Chuck. Walking at a normal pace they went to the van with Casey. Casey said, "Okay they are in the van. We are pulling away."

**Unknown Location  
>June 13, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"They were here and then gone. No trace." It was a simple report but complete.

The reply was, "But they have the computer."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	5. Chapter 5 the Spies

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 5—the Spies

**Casa Bartowski  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

"Hey, want a cup of coffee?" Chuck asked. He was in the kitchen when Sarah came in. They were already dressed for work. Chuck was in his Buy More outfit and Sarah was wearing a light pink blouse and tan slacks.

"Hum, sure." She took the cup. "So, are we going to get with General Beckman?"

Chuck nodded, "I sent her an email. Haven't gotten a reply yet."

While Chuck was getting the coffee ready, Sarah had gone to check the mail. Sarah held up a stack of letters, "Say, I got the mail. This one's from some company call VI Technology."

Chuck didn't have to flash, that was one of the easier ones from Volkoff. "Right, it is the Volkoff accounting firm." He thought about that for a second. He thought he had covered the ownership paper work with the company when they bought the jet. "Gee, wonder what they want?"

"Well, let's see." Sarah opened the envelope and pulled out the paper. "Oh wow."

Chuck's eyes went up like there might be something wrong, "What? What is it?"

"It's our account summary. I guess like a pay statement. It says that they sent $400,000 to our bank account last Friday," Sarah was reading the rest of the statement. "That was only a dividend from the company. They need us to go on-line to establish our pay and taxes."

"I guess we should have thought of that. What is our pay?" Chuck asked off-handedly.

"Top of the form says annual pay is $1,050,000." She looked up at him, "For each of us. It goes on to show projected annual compensation at ten million. Again for each of us."

"Okay, that's a little more than the twelve hours an hour from Buy More. Even after taxes that's going to be," he pulled out his phone and did a few calculations, "around $25,000 per pay check for just the straight pay."

"So what?" Sarah's eyebrows went up.

"So what? What?" Chuck asked back.

"You know, what are we going to do with that much?" Sarah's head tilted a little, like she expected a good answer.

"I don't know, isn't going to work?" He saw her shake her head no. Still doing some calculations, he picked up the form from the table. After looking at it, he said, "With the money we'll make as the owners in it's present state, together we'll be getting about $850,000 every pay day in compensation. And that's after taxes and probably $500,000 will be cash." He smiled at her, "We certainly have our monthly bills covered." That earned him a swat. "And it certainly puts the freelance spying in perspective. For that to be worthwhile, we would need to be paid about a million dollars per job."

"Okay, we spent a bundle on the plane, and we needed that. But from what you said before, that and all of the stuff at under Buy More is really company property. All a part of the freelance spy job." She started to make some calculations of her own. "So with our pay," she made quotes around pay, "we can buy every Buy More in the LA area by the end of the year," she said with a straight face. "Then what?"

"Well, I don't know. I mean we could go out and buy a great big mansion. I saw several were being sold at reduced prices, but we agreed to keep this cover. The apartment goes with Buy More." His eyes got wide, "You do like the apartment, don't you?"

Sarah moved closer to him, "Yes, for all we have done, this is closer to home than anything in a long time. We have Ellie and Devon here. And Casey and Morgan. It won't be the same if we got a house of our own. You like it, don't you?"

Chuck's head was bobbing, "Yes, I like it. Now that it's just me and you, it's great."

"So what…" Sarah began again. There was a knock at the door. She went to get it, "Good morning."

Ellie was outside, "Hi, just wanted to make sure we got to check Chuck before we headed out this morning." She looked at her brother, "Everything going okay since the download?"

"Hey Ellie, I am fine. Do you want to take my blood pressure or something?" Chuck asked.

"If you don't mind. We already got Morgan. Casey was dragging him back from a run this morning," Ellie observed and headed back out the door.

"I guess now that Morgan has the Intersect, Casey is going to really get Morgan in shape," Chuck replied. He started to the door and called to his sister, "Coming." He looked at Sarah, "Still don't know." Sarah nodded and they walked over to Ellie's.

**Woodcomb Abode  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

"So, did everything check out?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, go to good, Bro." Devon replied.

"I wish I knew why Clara was being fussy this morning," Ellie came into the dining room holding Clara. Clara was right by the door when Ellie came back to the apartment and started crying right away.

Mary smiled, "Oh she'll be fine. She must have thought you were leaving, and then got thrown off when you came back. She's fine." She went over to get Clara from Ellie, "You guys can go ahead. She'll be fine with me." She had a twinkle in her eye, "We'll read some of the old bedtime stories, I used to read to you."

"You not going to read her the one…" Chuck started.

"No, no. I thought we'd start with the pretty ones where Frost turns into Spring and takes care of all the kids. She'll like that. Ellie always did." Mary bounced Clara a little, "Yes, you will."

Chuck turned his head at Sarah, "Got an idea, let's go over to our offices." The fairy story always reminded him to take care of people who couldn't themselves. He wondered about Ellie's church. _'They always had a good missions program for orphanages overseas, maybe…Yeah, first they would have to make sure the repair bill really did get paid. Nothing went right that day. Even the fire truck pulling up to the church knocked over their sign.' _He paused, "You know we still need Casey to come up with a name."

She nodded. She turned to Ellie, "Well, we'll see you later, have a good day."

"Yeah, we need to get going. We got a few things to get straight. And then a few more over at Buy More." He started walking out the door, "You know what Jeff and Lester want…"

**Below the Buy More  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

Sarah and Chuck came down the stairs to the conference room. Morgan was down there talking with Casey, "You know we could call this after someone's name, like the Jefferson Center or the Reagan Center." That got a bigger growl from Casey than he thought possible. Morgan scurried around behind Chuck. He wasn't sure why he kept going, "So how about something to throw people off like called it Roark's Lab, Ty's Dojo," now he was moving out of Casey's range. "Hey, I read the old reports," he shrugged. "Or surprise them all and call it Orion?"

Chuck blinked at that and thought for a second he saw, _'No, that's just weird.'_ He did notice that two of the monitor's just came on like the computer rebooted. He turned to Morgan, "We would have to ask Mom if that was alright."

Casey grunted an affirmative.

Sarah shrugged, "Humm, might work." Sarah looked over at Casey, "So, what are you doing?"

"I thought we would start working in the Dojo. Should be able to find the missing pieces from the Intersect," Casey started to reply.

"Hey big guy, be careful. Kung Fu was not complete but the new parts were from the reigning world champion. And I think Taekwondo was all new instructions." He looked at Morgan who was smiling, "Okay remember, part of what you should be practicing is control. You do need to learn how to control the Intersect."

"Yeah, got it." Morgan headed to the locker room.

"Don't worry. I'm mainly trying to get him in condition." Casey started to the Dojo.

Sarah smiled thinking back to the fumbling and condition he was in, "You do remember when you started?"

"Yeah, part of that I've tried to forget. The other part I don't want to talk about." Chuck shook his head.

Sarah realized that they had never really talked about that dark year and decided now was not the time, "Right." She sat at the computer and got out the pay statement.

Chuck sat next to her, "I'm sorry. That was a nightmare. Maybe some other time." He thought about it for a second. _'It is still too painful. The platform, getting washed-out, Shaw, the emotions, Shaw, losing Dad, Shaw, no it's just too hard.'_

Sarah followed the instructions on the pay statement and was finishing the forms for their pay. "Say, I guess I don't know for sure. Is the apartment an apartment or a condo?"

Chuck smiled, glad to get into something else, "It's an apartment. We have a yearly lease."

"Okay, that wasn't much," Sarah closed out from the forms and turned to Chuck. "Any word?"

"Yes, the General will call us at Noon. I'll let everyone know," Chuck was at his terminal typing out several messages. With the last message sent, Chuck smiled at Sarah, "Pray for me, I have to deal with Jeff and Lester next. Be back in a little."

Sarah smiled, "Okay." She went back to the reports from Volkoff. She found the marketing plan for the Holo system and a production forecast. She sent that along to Chuck and the others. She had started through the individual arms sales reports when Carina and Zondra came into the conference room. "Oh hi guys, what's happening?"

Carina went over to Sarah, "We got some kind of notice from VI to fix our pay?"

"Right, I guess everyone has. It's real simple, just the normal stuff for tax proposes." Sarah pointed to the other computers, "Just log on and fill out the company form."

Zondra held out her form, "I have to ask. Did you know how much Chuck put down for our pay?" She pointed to the box with the annual pay on her statement.

"Chuck's not expecting…" Carina began.

"Stop that Carina. You of all people know better than that. And it wasn't Chuck that set the pay, I did." Sarah stared at Carina, "I figured that this could be far more dangerous than our previous jobs. And other than the company assets, we may have no backup. We'll likely find out what this is going to be like after the meeting with General Beckman."

Zondra held up her phone, "Got that. So what else is there now?"

"I am going through the company reports and business. I sent you a copy of the market and production information on the Holo. Please look through that. Casey is in the Dojo with Morgan going through some exercises. Chuck and Alex are upstairs trying to get things straight at the Buy More."

Carina laughed, "Good luck with that."

**Buy More  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

Chuck walked on to the Buy More floor. He saw Alex and Big Mike in Morgan's office. To the side of the computer area were Jeff and Lester fiddling with a camera.

Chuck walked up to the Jeff and Lester, "What are you doing?"

"Hey big man, we got those pictures of you and Sarah from a lot of hard work. This is our new jig." Lester started the explanation.

"Yeah, Spies Like Us, our new company. We thought we would do two things at once, take more pictures so we could do albums like you had at the reception." And then in a hushed voice, "And we are on the trail, of the owner of the Buy More."

"Okay, two small problems. And this is just the beginning; I'd seriously doubt that you could use a movie title for the name of your company. Second, if you continue to take pictures of Casey's daughter, you'll need additional insurance. Cause Casey will find out. And blind rage is usually a good defense against a murder charge," Chuck smiled.

Lester moved his hair out of his face, "Sage wisdom." He told Jeffrey, "Put it away before the Beastmaster presents itself."

Chuck shook his head and walked on. He looked in on Alex and Big Mike, "How's it going? Need anything?"

Big Mike answered, "No, we got it. We are done with orders. Alex is very good."

Alex blushed at the remark. She thought this was simple. She just thought whether Morgan would want whatever electronics was out there and then whether the appliance would have helped at the restaurant. It seemed easy to her.

Chuck smiled, "I'll tell Morgan. He'll be happy." Chuck went back to his station and started working the backlog of service request invoices.

The terminal in front of him blinked on. The screen was blank. Chuck looked around. Jeff and Lester were over by the camcorders and no one else was at a station. The screen displayed, 'ORION'S COMPUTER HAS THE ANSWER.'

Chuck thought out load, "What answer?"

'WHO IS THE OTHER.'

"What?"

'NOT MUCH TIME.' Then, 'WATCHING YOU.' The screen went blank and the screen saver came back on.

Chuck scrambled to write down what he had just seen. Chuck called down to Sarah, "I need everyone for a meeting right away. I'll get Alex and we do need Mom and Ellie. I'll be down to explain in a minute."

**Below the Buy More  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

Everyone had gathered around the conference table. Chuck had his dad's computer in front of him. "Okay, thanks for coming down. While I was up at the Nerd Herd desk, the terminal displayed this." He pointed at the large conference room screen.

"Who or what is the other?" Morgan asked.

"My initial reaction was the people who are controlling us. But I don't know." Chuck looked around. "Ellie, did you run across any files on Dad's computer that you haven't opened or could not open?"

"No, I really did not look around the files that much. It was like he had it directing me to the files I was to see and use. And from what I saw, the same held true for you." She watched him shrug. "We could start over and see if there are any other paths."

"Yeah, good idea." While Chuck was pushing the computer over to Ellie, Chuck asked, "Mom, what do you think?" He looked at her, "Did you ever think there could be some controlling force? And did you ever think there was someone helping you?"

While she shook her head at the first question, the second question made her think. "I always thought it was Steven. He knew I was undercover. We were still trying to get Hartley back."

"Did Alexei try to get back at Orion? He certainly had Roark in his sights. Did he know about Orion?" Chuck asked.

"You know he did. Your message to me proved that," Mary looked at her son.

"Yes, of course," Chuck answered.

"Chuck, where are you going with this?" Sarah asked. Casey grunted in agreement.

"I don't know. I am looking for help." Chuck looked down at the table.

"Ha, maybe you could ask him," Morgan was laughing to himself.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Oh, Alexei used the Roark Holo, like we did for our presentation. Maybe there is one in the files already to go…hold on." Morgan went to the next room and then came back. He checked the ceiling and the walls. He was already set up. He went through the terminal.

In a blink, a dark figure appeared at the front of the conference room. While Casey and Carina produced a their weapons, Morgan held up his hands, "Wait…just a second."

The figure did not fully appear. The face and hands were made of shifting letters and numbers. A hat and trench coat were visible as they were outlined by sparkles. "Good morning all. Ah, why did you call me?"

Chuck started first, "Dad?"

Mary shook her head, "Orion, correct?"

"Correct, my dear Frost." The shadowy figure looked back and forth to those sitting at the conference table.

**Unknown Location  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"They have turned on the computer." It was a simple report but complete.

The reply was, "Can you read the files?"

"Not yet."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	6. Chapter 6 the Computer

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 6—the Computer

**Below the Buy More  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

"Charles, there's a few things I need to do before we can continue. Would you please pass that laptop to me? Also, could I have my old laptop?" the Orion Holo asked.

"Certainly," Chuck passed the computers to the front of the conference table.

"Also, if you'll come here, I'll need you to do a few things."

Chuck walked to the front.

"Please lift the cover to my old laptop here. Good. Now, see the connector there. Please pull it and then the cord and transmitter with it. Okay now we are going to put it in this laptop. Open it here. Now connect to this lead. Aces, Charles Aces."

The laptop turned on and soon they heard a 'Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk' coming from it. "I'm sorry one more thing, could you turn the volume down?"

Chuck pushed the volume button. Morgan was snickering into his hands.

"Okay, I have a couple of more things to fix." There was a blink and then a longer flicker. "Okay, we are ready. You'll notice that all of the circuits and phones are down. With one exception, this laptop will keep the other guys entertained for a while. We won't have much time. Now what questions do you have?" the Holo Orion asked.

Chuck pointed to the screen, "Did you send that to me?"

"Yes, Charles."

Morgan could not help it. He had to ask, "Why the rush?"

"Because they will generate a new Fulcrum or Ring."

"But what can we do?" Chuck asked.

"You need to find my counterpart."

"You can't find him?" Chuck asked.

"No, it's the game we play. He can't find me either."

"Then how are we to find him?" Chuck asked.

"Start with his rendition of Decker."

"Wait, that wasn't Decker?" Chuck asked.

In a second the front screen showed the same picture Chuck saw that day, Decker laughing at him.

"Was that it?"

Chuck answered, "Yes."

"Takes too long to explain, but that was a simulation. Have to go. If you need to contact me, use the code given to Ellie." Holo Orion disappeared and the lights blinked.

Chuck looked around, "Okay, I am glad everyone was here. You didn't program that, did you?"

Morgan shook his head, "Wow, no. No way."

Casey got up and went to the other laptop. He looked at Chuck. Chuck agreed. Casey opened it and got the transmitter out. He turned it over and gave it to Chuck. The small serial number could be seen.

Chuck flashed, "Okay, new issue CIA. Transmit distance is good for a mile by line of sight. Associated with something called Operation Formax." Chuck looked at Morgan, "You get anything from Formax?"

Morgan shook his head. He had not flashed.

"Mom, how about you? Something from when you were all together?" Chuck tilted his head.

"Operation Formax was used to identify people who might be willing to align themselves to various philosophical views. The idea was to find people in foreign governments who could be turned and become our spies. Steven always said it was a bad idea that was generated from the Agent X work. The part that was used to turn Hartley into Alexei was the basis," Mary summarized.

"So, it generated Fulcrum and the Ring?" Sarah asked.

"Well yes, although a lot of Fulcrum was based on Ted Roark. But from what I know of the Ring, it was the result of Formax, individuals would be turned based on some crisis level event. It would be set up so that the change would not appear to be a bad thing, but a better and clearer way." Mary's voice was saddened, "We had two good friends twisted that way. They became trapped in circumstances they could not control."

Casey grunted in understanding remembering back to his time.

Chuck noticed the grunt, "So okay, we've all seen how we can be fooled. It's one thing we'll have to be careful about. And we must always be open with each other, no secrets." Both Casey and his mom agreed.

"So, who are those guys? I mean someone who tries to control everything, the forces of chaos?" Morgan was looking at the Holo terminal again. "Can we ask them?"

"Let's wait," remarked Casey.

"Yeah, good idea. When Orion shut everything down, that was a good move to keep us secure. But that in itself could get recognized. If we repeated it, it would be easier to pin point," Zondra offered.

"That's right. Let's wait. We should get more information from General Beckman." Chuck looked up at the clock. "Anyone want a sandwich for lunch?"

During lunch, Mary agreed that using Orion's name would be okay with her. Their new freelance company would go under Orion, LLC. Castle would be renamed, Orion Central. Chuck was sure he saw a happy face appear on one of the screens for a split second.

They were cleaning up from lunch, when Casey announced, "Just a minute and we will connect with General Beckman.

Right on the second, General Beckman appeared on the conference room screen. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Mary good to see you."

"Diane, I am glad you could join us." Mary responded.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Bartowski?" the General asked. "You wouldn't happen to know, who took your father's computer from the CIA bunker?" She let the question settle in. "The SI Swimsuit girls? Really?"

"Sorry General, we did run into some problems. The sunglasses you left for me were corrupted. Had we not caught the," he paused a second, "error, I would be dead or most of the people in this room would have been killed."

Her jaw tightened, "I'll check." She looked at Chuck, "I assume you loaded the Intersect without the error?" He nodded. "So, we understand each other, I do not have authorization to reinstate you. But I do expect we'll need your services. Based on the ah…Swimsuit Affair, I assume your are still interested in activities related to the Intersect."

Sarah was thinking fast about how to handle this. She nodded, "Yes, Ma'am. We can handle the requests through the Orion, LLC. We'll send you the paperwork."

General Beckman looked down at her papers, "Good. We have been having problems getting into a new organization forming in Europe. It appears to be developing a new recruitment method. The recruit is shown a few pictures and accepts."

Sarah asked, "Do you believe it to be related to the Intersect?"

"Yes, that's why I want you to take a look at it. And bring us the names of the people in charge," the General responded. "We believe two of their agents will be coming to Los Angeles in the next two days. They are coming under the names, Julie Sark and Aaron Sakowitz. The have reservations at the Maison for a Government job fair and conference. We have no other information."

Chuck shook his head, "They do not appear to be names in the Intersect."

"I assume you'll take the job," the General asked.

"Yes, we'll let you know what we find," Chuck responded and the screen went blank. "Well, some things don't change."

"How do you want to handle this?" Casey asked.

**Maison23 Hotel  
>June 16, 2011<strong>

In the van beside the hotel, Casey asked, "Are you sure this will work?"

"It should. I know Morgan did a lot, but Chuck and Zondra did most of it. She is the only one of us that isn't that well known. We have it fixed so that the rooms are covered. We have surveillance in the bar, the conference room and all of their bedrooms. You can see the live feed from each of the rooms. And you know it is secure. You tried to break into the feed and couldn't do it. I'm sure…" Sarah responded.

Morgan held up his hand, "Don't, don't say it." He pointed to the screen with the picture from the bar. "They're there."

Back in the hotel she walked into the bar with Julie and Aaron. They moved across the room Aaron pointed to a table and held out the chairs for her and Julie. Aaron saw the waitress coming, "Hey, here she comes. What would you like?"

"Johnnie Black straight, please."

Listening to the discussion and seeing the action on the van's display Casey nodded, "That's my girl. This better work."

Morgan added, "Yeah."

Back in the bar Alex got her drink and took a sip. Julie said, "We are so happy to meet you. I think we could help you. Like Aaron said, we are like career advisors. I mean your job with the Government puts you in a good position to get ahead there or in the commercial world. We can help you move around in the Government to get better jobs or recommend you to people in industry to get high paying jobs there."

Alex replied, "That's nice. I have been having problems. I mean I had everything lined up and then he walked out on me. But I sure you have better things to do then listen to another Dear John story."

Aaron jumped on that, "Well, we could speed things up a bit. We have a special presentation ready to go up in Julie's room." He shrugged, "We had thought we were going to get space on the conference room with the other exhibits, but something went wrong. So we had to leave our presentation system, a 3D TV, up in Julie's room."

Back in the van, Casey asked, "A 3D system, will you still be able to handle that?"

Chuck and Zondra were in the basement of the hotel. The hotel's phone and cable modems were located there. Chuck replied, "That will be no problem. When they checked the TV earlier we were able to get their video and audio."

Morgan was watching the bar, "Okay, they're on the move. Mama B, do you have them?"

"Yes Morgan, we see them. We'll pick them up when they get out of the elevator," Mary said. She was watching the screens in the room across the hall from Julie's room. Carina was there with her. "Okay, we see them."

Alex followed Julie into her room. Julie pointed to the chair in front of the TV. "Here, have a seat. We have some paperwork to do. So if you don't mind we'll be over here at the table. We'll start the presentation. Remember, if you have any questions, ask. We can always restart or rewind the presentation."

Alex sat in the seat and looked at the TV. She was a little nervous but felt better as soon as they activated.

Chuck called out, "Her lens have activated. She is blind to them." Alex was wearing a special set of contacts. Like some glasses from years past, these glasses became tinted when active. In this case, Chuck's transmission effectively activated the tinting and turned them black.

Chuck spoke into the cube in front of him, "Transmission to begin. As described, block and analyze. We need to let her know how to respond."

The cube responded, "Copy."

Alex sat there for less than five minutes. The presentation was ending, "Aaron and I would like you to join us. We will provide the forms for you to sign."

Chuck called, "Lens back to normal." Chuck paused and saw the results from the analysis. He checked the surveillance display in the room. Both Aaron and Julie were behind the TV screen. Alex could still see it. In a second the TV displayed:

'SIGN FORMS  
>SAY THANK YOU<br>LEAVE…Chuck'

Julie got up from the desk and held out some papers for Alex to sign. "Here, please sign these."

Alex took the pen from Julie and signed the forms. Looking up at Julie, she said, "Thank you." She gave Julie the forms and then walked out of the room. She had been told to walk to the elevator and go to the lobby and out the front. Casey would meet her there in the van.

Aaron looked up at Julie, "Wow, the new 3D presentation does work better. I am so happy we don't have to listen to them carry on about their problems. Thank you and out the door is so much better."

"Well hopefully, the next ones will go faster," Julie took the papers and put them in her briefcase.

In a little, Alex walked out the front of the hotel. Casey was there. He was driving the van and Morgan opened the door for Alex.

"How was it?" asked Morgan.

"The sunglass contacts worked great. I couldn't see a thing after I sat down. It sure did seem like it took a while before they took me to the room. Did I do…" Alex started to ask.

"Oh, you did great," cut in Sarah.

Casey turned around, "Proud of you. That was good."

Morgan was holding her hands, "Me too. I mean, thought you were great."

Sarah turned in her seat and looked at the console, "Did you get enough?"

"Yeah, and what Casey suggested should work. Zondra and I will meet you back at Orion Central," Chuck replied. It still sounded a little funny, but he figured he would get used to it.

Sarah turned around to the front, "What did you do?"

Morgan started laughing, "You didn't tell anyone?"

Sarah got a little more adamant, "What did you do?"

"Well, the new presentation gets the new recruits to join the ASPCA. We figured they needed to help some of the more deserving." Casey saw Sarah smile at that. "Then for those left leaning political animals…"

"Dad, you didn't!" Alex said.

"No, Chuck wouldn't let me. We were going to entice them join the Tea party, but instead they'll think they signed up as a sponsor for the Reagan library. And I'll send them a real membership." He saw the distressed look in Sarah's face, "Oh come on, my finger is getting itchy. I got to have some fun in this. You know we could have sent them Rush 24x7."

Sarah nodded and sat back.

**Orion Central  
>June 16, 2011<strong>

They were gathered around the conference table. Chuck was standing in front of them pointing to the screen. "The images contained a string shown as X's that began as described in the Agent X files. They were designed to change the recruit's character. The next sequence tells them to go undercover for a year, then to log into a blog called, 'Knowledge is Powder.' They are to get directions from that."

Morgan's eyes narrowed, "You mean like Jeff's Mom's saying?"

Casey grunted, "Maybe we ought to pay her a visit?"

"Probably," Chuck acknowledged and then went back to the screen.

"The remainder of the video has basically Fulcrum type home and apple pie information with a slant toward a totalitarian state and dedication to the leaders. The leaders of our happy little outfit include Decker's new boss, Jane Bentley." Chuck showed a picture of her. "And one of the Gretas, now Major Vicky Dunwoody. Best guess, she still has an Intersect."

Sarah tilted her head, "Are we going to tell Beckman?"

"Well, I was going to say that we should do more investigating. We can certainly check on Jeff's Mom. But there ought to be a few more checks that we make. Plus, we still have Aaron and Julie under surveillance. And their TV still has a cube in it."

**Unknown Location  
>June 14, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Recruiting progressing." It was a simple report but complete.

The reply was, "Good."

_A/N Please leave a review. Hats off to Ems M, who saw I did not use Clara for the Woodcomb's new baby. That has been changed in all chapters. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	7. Chapter 7 the Checks

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 7—the Checks

**Orion Central  
>June 16, 2011<strong>

It was late afternoon and the team was still at the conference table. "If we are going to go after Jane Bentley, we better get going. Last I heard she was recruiting a team to go into Egypt and the other Middle Eastern States to assess the situation and determine where aid could be given," Casey shook his head. "I told them I did not want to go. It did not sound like enough action. I think I got Jane to acknowledge it was a bit of a step down as the A Team did not pan-out."

"So, do you think the Gretas were the first of a new set of Formax recruits?" Chuck asked.

"No. Not from the one I knew," Casey instantly replied.

"Hope so. You might check with her. See if she knows of any presentations that she does not quite remember. I am pretty sure that's what would have happened to Alex." Chuck's response got a positive grunt from Casey. "How old is your information about Jane and what was her first target?"

"Right after the A Team fell apart. Someone called about the new team. Then I saw Jane once before she left. So, it's old. But unless she got a different job, she would be tied to this mission." Casey paused, "The initial target was not included in the information I had."

Mary looked at Chuck and Sarah, "You should be able to find out through the company. Volkoff would have had someone on the ground there looking for the buyers. They would have heard whether a new team was in town."

Sarah nodded, "Good point. Let's see what our company has first."

Morgan piped up, "What about Jeff's Mom? Do we send someone to check on her?"

Chuck turned to Sarah, "Okay, do we send someone she might know?"

"You're not thinking of taking Jeff with you?" Sarah asked.

"Wow, hadn't thought of that. I mean, I guess it might help. Best I have been able to figure out she is up in the rehabilitation side at Lompoc Correctional." Chuck shrugged, "Well, I'll go ask Jeff if he is up for a road trip." Chuck looked at Morgan and he nodded.

"I'll go get what intelligence we have on Jane. Anyone have anything else?" Sarah got up and everyone else did too. Morgan followed Chuck out of the conference room.

**Casa Bartowski  
>June 16, 2011 <strong>

That evening Chuck was waiting at the door with a glass of champagne. Sarah put down her purse, "Why, thank you. And to what do I owe this occasion?"

"Oh come on, it's been a month. I thought we'd have a little celebration," Chuck smiled at her.

Sarah took a sip. Her eyes lit up, "Sure." She held the glass to the side and gave him a kiss. She looked him over and saw that he was ready except for his suit jacket. "Do I have time to change?"

"Of course, I was a little early so I already got ready. We have time," he motioned to the clock.

"Okay, be out in a minute," she started to the back of the apartment.

Chuck went back to the dinning room table and put the bottle back in the bucket. He had his glass and flipped on the evening news. He was mainly interested in the traffic report and the roads looked fine that evening.

Sarah was back as quickly as she promised. She was exquisite. Chuck looked at her in the black cocktail dress. It was strapless and not too high off her knee. She wore a nice strand of pearls and matching earrings. He was still amazed at how she could get her hair done so well and so fast.

Chuck smiled at her, "You look exceptionally beautiful."

"Yes, your pretty daper yourself. So what do you have planned for this evening?" she asked.

"I thought we'd go to Scarpetta's. It's a new restaurant in Beverley Hills. Thought we would try it. Then we'll go over to a new club. It's a little bit of a surprise. But I think you'll like it." Chuck held out his hand. "This way, please."

"I think I'll like this."

**Scarpetta  
>June 16, 2011<strong>

"Chuck, this really is nice," Sarah took a sip of her wine. The appetizers included roasted sea scallops. Sarah was eyeing one of the scallops.

Chuck looked around, "Yeah, this is nice."

"You know we can't do this all the time. Someone will get suspicious."

"I know. I figured that we could occasionally go out to eat some place special," Chuck responded.

"Okay, I think that will be fine. But you have something else tonight. We can't do that all the time," Sarah shook her head.

"I know. I think I have an alternative," he smiled. "I thought that if we can get out to some place special then after we could go to one of our facilities."

"Our facilities, Chuck what are you talking about."

"It's a little bit of a surprise. Can we wait?" Chuck asked.

"Okay," she held up her glass.

Chuck did the same.

**Club 20  
><strong>**June 16, 2011**

Chuck held the door for Sarah. She said as she went in, "This is going to have to be something to beat that restaurant."

"Well, I think you will think it is pretty special." Chuck waited for Sarah to enter and the door closed behind him.

Rick Blaine was at the reception desk, "Welcome to Club 20. We hope you enjoy. This way please." Danny Ocean was on stage with the big band behind him. He was singing 'The Way You Look Tonight.'

Sarah was looking around. There were several people she recognized from the movies she had watched with Chuck. The dance floor was full and most of the tables were taken.

Rick showed them to a table right off the dance floor with a good view of the stage. The table had a single red rose and a bucket with a bottle of Champagne. Chuck smiled at Sarah. "Thought you might like this. Right now let's have fun and I'll answer all your questions later."

Chuck asked her to dance when the next song started. Most of the night the music was a nice soft jazz. Sarah was smiling the whole time.

**Casa Bartowski**  
><strong>June 16, 2011<strong>

Chuck and Sarah were in their bed. It had been a wonderful evening. Chuck had even covered the apartment with rose pedals and candles. Sarah had one of her teddies on and snuggled against Chuck.

"That was just fantastic. I loved it. The singers, bands and the people that was really fun. I love you. Thank you for doing this," Sarah whispered to Chuck.

"I love you too. And happy anniversary, first month," he reach down and kissed her neck. He pulled her a little closer. "It is a very good night."

"It will get better. There is one other thing," Sarah giggled.

Later when Sarah had gone to sleep and Chuck could not stay awake any longer watching her, he snapped his fingers and the candles went out.

**Orion Central  
>June 17, 2001<strong>

"So how did it work last night?" Morgan anxiously asked Chuck as he came to the table.

"Great. I mean it was smooth. The dinner was good. You ought to try that. And the Club played perfectly. The songs were…" Chuck was saying.

Sarah came up, "Wait what did you do?"

"Well, like you thought last night, and thanks for not asking, but that was a Holo club. Last night was the first trial. Then the candles and flowers were Holos too. I thought you liked it, did you?" Chuck asked.

"Well, yes," she kissed him. Whispering in his ear, "I know everything in the bedroom wasn't a hologram." Her eyebrows rose in play. Then she looked at both Chuck and Morgan, "The club was fun. So, how did you do the drinks?"

"Oh well, that is the biggest draw back," Chuck answered. "Morgan and I got the club set up and then before we got there Morgan put out the champagne. While we were there and you went the restroom, I went to the refrigerator at the bar and got another bottle. We also had to set up the table and chair ahead of time. There was only one table, the rest were Holos."

"Yeah, tomorrow night we are going to have it set up for all of us," Morgan chimed in.

Chuck nodded, "It will be our real test, and should be some fun. We'll update the music so that Alex, Carina and Zondra should enjoy it. Ellie and Devon will be there. I think it will be their first real experience with it."

Casey caught the last part, "So why are we doing this?"

"Since we can't get into see Jeff's Mom until Monday and Volkoff's Intelligence section said they are checking on Jane but not to expect anything firm until Monday, we thought we would continue the research on the cubes. We have the engineer's report on the trials they did, but we want to field test it some more. Each time we'll add a little more. Last night, it was just Sarah and I. It did seem pretty real to me," Chuck turned to Sarah for acknowledgement.

"Yes, at first I thought he had found some strange club and the next thing that would pop up would be Elvis look-alikes. It was pretty realistic." Sarah said with a smile.

"So, the next step is to do it with several people interacting with the program. We're testing it so if we need to use it with more than a couple guards, we'll know how many cubes to employ. And it will be fun." Chuck got a grunt from Casey.

Alex came over to the table and stood beside Morgan, "So, did you ask?"

"Oh, we'll need some help at Buy More this morning. Our shipments for the 4th of July sale are coming in and we need to off load them. Can you help?" Morgan asked.

Casey grunted, "As long as she checks the invoices and you are doing the moving." Casey grunted, "And don't think this will get you out of daily exercises." Casey turned to Chuck, "You coming? You could use some exercise too."

"Right," Chuck turned to the others would had gotten to the table, "anything else?"

Carina held out a paper, "Here's the songs we came up with."

"Great…well, I'll be up at the loading docks." Chuck took the list and put it in his pocket.

**Club 20  
><strong>**June 18, 2011**

Chuck and Morgan came out the front door of Club 20. Chuck began, "Okay. Really, thanks for coming everyone. I think you will find it to be fun. The tables we have for us are real and have white tablecloths on top. The chairs with those tables are also real. The tables with red tablecloths and red backed chairs are holos. We do have two guys from Volkoff here tonight. One will be our bar tender. He has a white jacket on. Although the fare is limited, we do have a chef. He is the other guy from Volkoff. Both are engineers on Sev's staff.

"So, things we are looking for. First we want you to have fun. If this works right it should be like a real bar, you should not notice anything. But the little things we are looking for are whether the program slows down. If it does, you might start seeing slowed reactions. Or whether the characters don't stay crisp and life like. Maybe like the old video games, the characters meld into each other or their foot goes below the ground.

"Other than that let's go have some fun!" Chuck called out. He took Sarah's arm and open the door for her and the others.

Brian Flanagan met them as they came in, "Welcome to Club 20. Let's us know if there is anything we can do. Doug is at the bar tonight. He can get anything you want to drink. And our band is just coming on stage."

As they walked to their tables the band began to play. Chuck and Morgan went for a collection of songs. The bands and performers switched with the songs.

Chuck and Sarah were seated with Zondra, Casey and Carina. Morgan and Alex were with Ellie and Devon. The club appeared to be full and there were always a few people on the dance floor. Chuck and Sarah led the way by dancing first. Ellie got Devon out on the floor and soon they were dancing with almost every song. Casey was enjoying himself with a little Johnnie but did manage a dance with Alex, Ellie and Zondra.

Chuck and Morgan would occasionally stop by the bar to check on things. In every case the engineers reported success. The interaction and visuals were right on.

"Hey Chuck, this is fun. I mean it is a little annoying that you can't touch anyone," Carina commented. "But it's fun knowing nothing will happen no matter what you say."

Chuck smiled and made a note to erase the recordings after their evening. Chuck had noticed that Casey and Morgan were not dancing with Carina. He looked at Sarah and she nodded, "Carina, would you like to dance?"

"Certainly," Carina had seen the little approval nod from Sarah. She stood when Chuck came over and took his arm.

Chuck led her to the floor. He nodded toward the stage. Danny Ocean came out and began to sing 'Summer Wind.' Carina's face lit up. "Hey remember," Chuck whispered in Carina's ear.

"Yes, I know. I was there," Carina replied. "But this is fun. Casey won't dance. He still thinks I'll handcuff him to the band or something. At this point, I probably would. And Morgan is still trying to show Alex that he is with her. You need to…"

"I need to what?"

She laid her head against his shoulder, "Figure something out."

Chuck smiled. He'd get Sarah to help figure this one out. To have Carina ask for anything was a bit of a surprise. It did help Chuck realize that he should dance with all the girls.

Later when dancing with Sarah, Chuck mentioned, "We need to talk about Carina and Zondra. I don't think they have enough to do."

"Yes, I watched you dance with Carina. She's normally not like that. I mean not that quiet. It almost looked like she was ready to scoop you up and…"

"Yeah right, don't go there. I think it is because she doesn't have enough to do," Chuck replied.

"Well, maybe. I think it might be that she is finally watching us and realizes we have something she doesn't. And now, she wants to find that," Sarah smiled at Chuck.

That got a "Hum," from Chuck. He held Sarah a little closer and continued the dance.

**Orion Central  
>June 20, 2001<strong>

Chuck and Sarah had their cup of coffee and were sitting at the conference room table. Mary was there this morning as Devon had a late start and was keeping Clara. The others were sitting at the table. Casey asked, "So, what do we have lined up today?"

Sarah pointed to the screen, "Here's the report from our intelligence section. Jane Bentley is currently in southern Italy."

"Sweet, some frequent flyer miles," Morgan spouted.

Casey shook his head, "Look at the rest of the report."

Sarah continued, "That's right. The intelligence section was able to find a plane reservation for her coming into Los Angeles on Wednesday. We need to do a little of our own checking to see where she'll be staying. Carina and Zondra, can you work that?" They agreed. "We'll try to pick her up here."

Chuck added, "Then today, Casey, Mom and Jeff are coming with me to visit Jeff's mother." He turned to Sarah, "Will you be alright with Clara?"

"Oh sure, I got one of the rooms fitted with cubes and made into a play room. What could go wrong?" Sarah answered.

**Unknown Location  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

The statue of an eagle overlooked the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "They are planning to meet her."

The static sounding reply, "Set it up."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	8. Chapter 8 the Meet

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

So, just a little fun here. Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 8—the Meet

**Lompoc Correctional  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Chuck and Casey went into the interview room first. Chuck went to one corner and Casey to the other. Then they rapidly went to the other two corners of the room. The interview room was an open room, not one of those rooms where the convict was on one side of the partition and the interviewer on the other side. Casey suggested they do this as a practice run and see what they could get. Chuck and Zondra had hacked into the prison systems cameras before they left and could loop any of the interview rooms that could be used for the interview with Jeff's mom. With the cubes in place it gave them extra security. As soon as they were in place they began to work.

The center table had four chairs on one side and a single chair on the other. Chuck held a middle chair out for his mom and sat next to her. Casey sat on the other side of her and Jeff sat next to Chuck. Jeff look around, "They've painted since last time."

"And when was the last time you were here?" Casey asked.

Jeff rubbed his hair back a couple times and blinked his eyes, "Probably five years ago. I don't know. We'll have to ask Mom."

Chuck looked at Jeff, "You okay with this, buddy?"

"Oh sure, Mom will be happy that I finally have friends that are willing to come see her. And since I have not lost my job again, she should be glad," his smile came out.

The opposite door opened and Jeff's mom came in the room. It was close, but Chuck thought she was just a little older than his mom. She had greying blonde hair and blue eyes. Chuck thought she was more on the Big Mike side than slim like his mom and she was shorter than his mom. She came directly around the table and went to Jeff, giving him a big hug and kiss on his cheek.

Casey's first thought was that her show got cancelled.

"So Jeffrey, who are your friends?" she asked.

Jeff began with Chuck, then his mom and Casey. Jeff went around and held out her chair. When she sat down she said, "Please call me Kathy. Mrs. Barnes doesn't seem to fit up here. Other than being happy that you brought Jeffrey up here, I hope you enjoy this." She looked directly at Jeff, "So you still got your job and aren't sleeping in the terrible van?"

"Yeah Mom. I got my old apartment back," Jeff answered.

"You still making beer in the bath tub?" she was starting to drill him for answers.

"No Mom, I had to stop that. I thought I told you. The plug doesn't work any more. I just lose the beer down the drain," Jeff was almost crying at the loss.

"So, is there anything new?" she stared at him hard.

"Not yet," he shook his head. "We have been watching. We still don't know who owns the store."

Kathy turned to Chuck, "I suppose you don't know who owns the store." She watched as he was caught off guard. "Jeffrey and I really don't want him to lose his job. If I need to convince the new owner to keep him, I will."

Chuck was sure he saw flames come out of her eyes.

"And now for your questions, I am sure you'll like the show." She took Jeff's hand, "Why don't you go get with the warden on the pardon? I'll see you in a little."

"See you Mom," Jeff nodded and went out of the room.

**Orion Central  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Sarah got Clara from Devon. She had her in the playroom. She figured that she had everything set. 'Tangled' was playing on the cubes and the crib was just at the right height to pick up Clara and not have to bend over.

She first sat in the rocking chair with Clara. Clara was awake and seemed to be watching the show. About the time Flynn and Maximus were taking Rapunzel to the kingdom, Clara lost interest and started to cry. Sarah reached into the diaper bag and got the bottle out. Clara kept crying a little and then was hooked on the bottle. Sarah bent down and kissed her on the forehead, "What a sweetie. You're so cute."

She started to rock a little while Clara had the bottle. Zondra poked her head in, "They are at the interview room. Casey and Chuck have the cubes up and they are working. Is everything okay back here?"

Sarah smiled, "Yeah, we're good. She just needed her bottle. I'll burp her, change her diaper and put her down for a nap. Be out in a little to see how things go." All of that went easy, Clara went to sleep after being rocked a little more and Sarah put her in the crib. She thought as she left the room, _'Like I said, 'What could go wrong?' _

Sarah walked up behind Zondra. She was watching the conversation in the interview room. They both heard, "I am sure you'll like the show."

**Lompoc Correctional  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Once Jeff was out of the room Kathy looked into Mary's eyes, "Now Frosty, what are you really looking for?"

All three of them were caught off guard. They could hardly believe that Jeff's mom would know something like that. Chuck managed, "Who are you?"

"Mary might remember me as Andromeda," Kathy began.

Chuck flashed…

_Vietnam, Citation for extracting information…_

_Trade Mark K shows up in remains…_

_Bound to stone and project Apollo…_

"I see Chuck now does too," Kathy said looking at Chuck come out of a flash. "Thought you would be able to cover that by now."

Mary looked at her, "You were the one that started Project X."

"We gave it the kernel that it needed to start. That was a long, long time ago. Now, what is it that you want?" Kathy asked.

Chuck got right to it, "We found something in a Formax recruiting tool that said to log on to Knowledge is Powder. Since Jeff has used that a few times when talking about you, we thought there was a chance that you were the one."

"The one you are looking for thinks Knowledge is Powder, like the powder a Minuteman would put in his rifle. No, that's not me. I told Jeff about it enough to make sure if they ever came his way, to get out of there," Kathy replied.

"Wait, so if you know about Knowledge is Powder and if you are Andromeda and an agent of some kind, are you the opposition? I mean the head of team that is fighting them?"

"What, do I have an Eagle on my desk? Does this look like a place with offices and daily reports of activities? You're not looking for me." Kathy looked at Chuck, "Careful honey, nothing is as it seems."

Mary was going to ask, "But do you know…"

Kathy shook her head. She knew time was up. As she stood she said, "Got to go. Take care of Formax now. It does not need to grow into another Fulcrum. Oh, and when we are done, don't forget to take your cubes with you." She walked out of the room.

**Orion Central  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Zondra immediately tried to adjust the reception. Sarah's eyes got big. The screen did not show the interview room, it was the beginning of the scene at the Snuggly Duckling from 'Tangled.'

Sarah got her phone out. She tried Chuck, Casey and Mary. Each number went to their voicemail. Zondra was still trying different settings and making a few calls. She called the main desk, the guard post and the warden's office. She got voicemails, too.

"All lines are down. And I am only getting this picture," Zondra pointed to the scene from 'Tangled.'

"I can't get their cell phones. This looks like a trap," Sarah switched to Morgan's number. "Hey Morgan, please come down now." She looked at Zondra, "Where's Carina?"

"She is down doing a preliminary look see at the hotel Jane is supposed to use."

In another second they heard Morgan coming down the stairs. "Hey, what's up?"

"We lost the signal to the interview room with Jeff's mom and can't get anyone on the phone," Sarah responded. About then Clara started crying in the other room. "Oh great. I'll go check on Clara. You see if you can get them."

Sarah went in the playroom. She looked down at Clara in the crib and saw that her diaper had gotten twisted and she was dirty all over. The crib was dirty too. Sarah got the changing table ready. She took Clara's clothes off while she was in the crib and picked up Clara. Moving her over to the changing table she started to clean her off with some wet wipes. Clara wasn't that dirty. Most of it went on the crib and her clothes. Sarah almost had the new diaper on and Clara wet. She wiped her up again and put on a new diaper. Getting clothes out of the diaper bag, Sarah put her in a clean outfit. When Sarah put her down in the playpen, she turned the cubes on and they were playing the same point in the 'Tangled' show as the surveillance monitor screen. Clara looked happy, so she left the mess and went back to the screen Zondra was using.

"Could we be getting feedback from the cubes in the playroom? They are at the same point in the show," Sarah asked.

"Hey, I can check that," Morgan started to the playroom.

Clara started crying again. Sarah followed Morgan to the room. When Morgan turned off the movie, Clara started to cry. Morgan held up his hand, "Let me see if that did anything." He went back out to Zondra's screen. "Okay, no change. I'll try one other thing."

Sarah had picked up Clara by the time Morgan got back to the room. She quieted down. Morgan started the movie over and went back out to Zondra. Her screen was clear. It now showed the interview room. Mary, Chuck and Casey were in the room. They were just looking at each other and not saying a word.

Morgan called out, "Okay, it's working. Must have been feedback from the playroom."

Sarah got out her phone again and called Chuck. It rang. "Hey, how are you doing? Everything okay?"

Zondra saw Chuck look up at one of the corners, "We are okay. A bit of a surprise. Did you see any of it?"

"Last we heard was something about liking the show. Then we lost video and I could not get through to you. And Zondra could not get through to the facility." Sarah reported.

"Well, that pretty well matches with what we found up here. But again, we are okay. We'll be back in a little and discuss what we found. See you, and love you," Chuck ended.

"Okay. Love you too," answered Sarah.

**Lompoc Correctional  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Chuck put his phone away. "Well, let's go get Jeff. We'll talk it over when we get back." Chuck went over to one corner and got the cube. Casey got the other three.

They went out of the interview room and finally tracked Jeff down after going to several check points and the warden's office.

"So, how did you like my mom? I know she can get a little scary sometimes. But she's something, isn't she?" Jeff was smiling.

Mary smiled, "Yes, it was nice talking to her."

**Orion Central  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

Mary, Chuck and Casey came to the conference table at the same time. Chuck and Sarah were looking at each other and said, "What happened?"

Chuck saw everyone was getting their seats. "You first, please."

Zondra started, "As soon as Kathy said, 'I am sure you'll like the show,' we were blocked. The movie 'Tangled' came on our screens. While Morgan initially thought it was a bleed over from the playroom cubes showing the same movie, I went over the recordings. That movie on this screen was not from here. Then we tried to get a hold of you. We could not get through to your cell phones or any phone at Lompoc. By the time we finished the initial check, your picture came back and Sarah called you."

Sarah nodded, "So, what about you guys?"

Casey started, "Jeff's mom is not the psycho drugged criminal we thought."

Chuck began, "Kathy Barnes, code name Andromeda, knew Mom as Frosty. She began back during the Vietnam War and got a citation from extracting information from enemy prisoners. She was used to close projects and clean the remains. Finally she is charged with project Apollo, and I don't think that is over. We'll come back to that.

"She saw me flash on her code name and knows that I have the Intersect. She acknowledged that she was involved in a project, which preceded Project X. We'll come back to that too.

"She knew about Knowledge is Powder and told Jeff to watch out for them. When I asked if she was the head of the organization fighting this Knowledge is Powder organization, she put up a bunch of smoke but basically said no. When Mom started to ask more, she decided it was time to go. She did say, nothing is as it seems.

"Finally, like almost telling us what to do, she said, 'Take care of Formax now.' She or they don't want it to grow into another Fulcrum. And then she said to take the cubes with us when we left. The cubes were active and she should not have been able to see them." Chuck was typing while he relayed the information.

"So Mom, or anyone else do you know anything about project Apollo?" Chuck asked.

"I don't have any of the details. I thought it was another huge database with some data fusion capability. Your father was not working on that, at least I don't think I heard him talk about anything related to that project." Mary looked back at Chuck, "Sorry."

"Okay, I don't know if it is related or not, but DEA uses a search tool called Apollo. It's been around for a long time. Maybe the Volkoff Intelligence guys have a copy?" Carina suggested.

"So did the Apollo project precede Project X or was there another project she was referring to?" Chuck asked.

"I don't think we can really tell. I heard of Apollo before Project X, but I don't know what she was working on." Mary shrugged.

"Okay, next her answers on the head on the organizations," Chuck started.

"Yeah about that, she might have given us a little tip. Remember she asked whether we thought she had an Eagle on my desk, had offices and got daily reports of activities? Maybe her boss does?" Casey commented while looking at Chuck.

"Good point," Chuck commented.

"Right, we'll run a search on all government desks that might have an eagle on them," Morgan chuckled.

There was a little growl from Casey and Chuck intervened, "Look when we are thinking about these things, we can't have someone cut someone off. Point is that there is someone in charge," Chuck paused. "We really did not know that before."

"And it is someone against the Formax and Knowledge is Powder folks," Sarah smiled at Chuck. "Look, I know it isn't much, but it is more than we knew before."

"Yeah, and they want us to take out Formax," Chuck shrugged.

"So, are they connected?" Zondra was pushing her hair back.

"What's connected?" asked Carina.

"You know, is the black out that Kathy set up at the jail tied to the cubes? She was able to stop the cubes from showing us the real signal. And she obviously knew that we had cubes in the room, and what we called them," Zondra shook out her hair.

"So do we ask now?" Morgan said holding the terminal for the cubes.

"Yes, let's do that." Chuck looked around, "Any objections?" There were none.

In a minute there was a little static in the room and the lights blinked. The shadow shape with electronic numbers and letters appeared in the room. "Mary, Charles and everyone, nice to see you again. Do you have some questions?"

**Unknown Location  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

The statue of an eagle overlooked the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "Instructions passed."

The static sounding reply, "Copy."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	9. Chapter 9 the Prisoner

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter —9 the Prisoner

**Orion Central  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

The shadow shape of Orion was in front of the conference room and asked what questions they had.

Chuck knew there were several questions. He was not sure why these sessions were so short. He could understand the need to ensure no one intercepted the phone call and associated Hologram images. He began, "We met with Jeff's Mom, Kathy Barnes."

"Yes, I know," the Holo Orion answered.

Chuck thought for a second. The Volkoff computer would have processed the event and seen the introductions at Lompoc. It made sense that he would respond that way. "What did the cubes at Lompoc record after Kathy said, 'I am sure you'll like the show'?"

"This is what was transmitted," the Orion set aside and the picture of 'Tangled' started. It was the scene that they saw at the conference room. Sarah and Zondra nodded.

"Okay, wait. Did the cubes record anything of the interview after that point?" Chuck asked again. He was hoping that Orion would have seen the entire interview and then he would be able to ask a few more questions.

"The cubes are not turned on. You'll have to download the recorded information from the cubes themselves to see what is recorded in their memory. I'll send you the code to use," the Orion replied in a matter of fact fashion. "Anything else? We can't maintain this much longer without being spotted."

"Is the Formax and Knowledge is Powder organizations linked and who is the head person?" Chuck asked as his next question. He had assumed that from talking with Kathy that they were, but hoped for confirmation or something more from Orion.

"Yes, the Volkoff Intelligence section should be able to show crossing points. Or if you wish, we could construct an update to your program." Orion paused.

Chuck replied, "Fine." He thought about that. It would be good to have updates to the Intersect. That was something that General Beckman never really followed up on. He thought that there were times the Intersect did not have the most complete picture.

"Must go," Orion was gone in a blink.

As soon as he was gone the computers began to boot up again. Chuck looked around at everyone.

Sarah turned over to Chuck, "We need to find a better way of doing that. Would it be better back at Volkoff?"

Mary smiled, "Good idea. Some of those rooms are shielded better than any other."

Carina broke in, "But first we'll need to take care of Jane."

That statement was ended by a loud cry from the other room as little Clara was waking up.

**Maison 23 Hotel  
>June 22, 2011<strong>

"Don't forget, she has seen all of us or reviewed our files. She'll know us. And so will, Major Dunwoody," Chuck reminded everyone. They were in a utility room. They had it fixed with monitors linked to the cubes in the halls and rooms.

"She is in her room. Looks like she is doing a sweep," Casey reported. He was seated in front of the displays.

"Her equipment should not pick up the cubes. See, she passed right over it," Zondra said pointing to the display screen.

"Okay, we have Julie Sark and Aaron Sakowitz headed to her room," Morgan added.

There was a knock at Jane's door and she opened it. Greetings were heard and Julie and Aaron entered the room. Julie started, "We've made contact with fifty-one people. All of them watched the video."

"Very good. Any problems?" Jane asked of the two.

"None," Julie responded.

"Then meet me down at the van in thirty minutes. Bring your gear. We have something to clean up." She saw them to the door and began to change into her tactical gear.

Casey spoke up, "She's coming after us. She said something close to the same thing before she left, that she'd have to come back and clean things up. At the time, it did not make any sense."

"Then let's take them here," Carina said as she checked the action on her Glock. Casey nodded at Carina. There was something that he did like about her.

"Actually, we are set up to do take them here. We have tranquilizer gas dispensers positioned in their rooms," Morgan smiled.

"What do you think?" Chuck looked over at Sarah. Chuck was happy. It was coming together, but he wanted to make sure Sarah was the one that started it.

"Do it. Turn it on now," Sarah stood up from her monitor station.

Morgan pushed the button for the tranquilizer gas. "It is being dispensed."

They were watching the monitors and saw that the three had fallen to the floor. Casey turned and pointed to the clothes dampers in the room they were using. "I'll get Jane. Chuck, go get Aaron. Zondra and Carina, please get Julie. We'll meet back here and then take them to our van."

Sarah and Morgan watched as they collected the Formax agents. There were no difficulties. Everyone made it back to the monitor room at about the same time. They took the staff elevator and headed out the back door to their van.

When they got down to the van Casey looked over at Chuck and Sarah, "You guys head over to the Center. We'll meet you there. This seems too easy. Better round up everyone."

Chuck nodded, "Call Mom and tell her to meet us there and bring Clara. Morgan, get Alex and tell her to meet us down at Orion Center. We'll get Devon and Ellie."

Sarah got at the wheel of her Lotus. As soon as Chuck was in the car, they were headed to the parking lot exit. They rocketed down the streets and were at the entrance to the Orion Center behind the Buy More in a short time.

**Orion Central  
>June 22, 2011<strong>

Chuck got to the security system at the entrance and opened the door for Sarah. Sarah was on the phone with Alex, "We are coming in. Any alarms?"

"No alarms. Looks fine," Alex reported. She was watching all the cameras and nothing was changing other than the camera showing Chuck and Sarah coming in the back way.

"Okay, we'll be at the conference room in a second," Sarah ended. "We're clear," she nodded at Chuck.

They proceeded to the conference room and met Alex there. Everything was okay. They looked at the monitors and saw Casey pulling up to the back entrance in the van. Casey and Morgan got the clothes hampers out of the van and Carina and Zondra started wheeling two of them to the door. Chuck and Sarah helped as they wheeled them into the holding rooms. There were enough rooms to put one of them to a room. For Jane, Casey was taking no chances and had locked in a chair.

"How do we want to handle their interrogations?" Chuck looked at Sarah.

"Well, when Ellie and Devon get here, they can help monitor what we are using. But it is the same as what we used in the agency. And it does not cause any harm to them." Sarah paused, "You know maybe we can use the cubes to our advantage. We could Start with General Beckman and then if necessary have a variety of interviewers."

"Yeah, good idea," Chuck replied.

Mary came down the stairs with Clara. She went to Alex who was still monitoring the screens. "What's happening?"

Alex looked up, "They just took the three from the hotel to the holding rooms. I am waiting to see if there is any unusual activity."

Chuck came into the room, "Jane was getting ready to do a clean up. Casey thought she meant us. So, we are getting ready. It is possible that Major Dunwoody is in the area. She could be leading another group."

"You should contact the Intelligence Section and see if they can track her down. That would be better than staying hold up here," Mary looked at Chuck to see if he would agree.

"Okay." Chuck turned to Alex, "Any word on Ellie and Devon?"

"They are just driving up." Alex pointed to the monitor of the parking lot.

"Okay, I'll get them and explain what we are doing." He saw Sarah come back in the room. "Say, Mom thought we could have the Volkoff Intelligence Section track down Major Dunwoody. Could you ask them? I'll go get Ellie and Devon. They have just pulled up."

It took a few minutes to get everyone into the conference room and up-to-date on the situation. Casey had checked on the prisoners and made sure they were secure and locked into the chairs in the holding room. They were ready to begin the interrogations.

"They are rolling into the parking lots." Alex pointed to three vans coming into the Buy More parking lot and another three coming into the back parking lot.

"Morgan, call up stairs and tell them we have a pineapple situation. Let's clear out the store before they get in place." Chuck looked over at Casey. They hadn't changed anything at Buy More. Casey nodded that even Jeff and Lester would remember.

"We are all set. We should be able to monitor them all the way in." Casey sat down next to Alex.

They watched as the two teams formed up. The team from the back parking went to the door. One of them made quick work of the lock and security system.

Morgan said, "See, I told you that was too easy. We needed to get the…"

There was a loud, "Later Morgan."

The team from the back continued through the corridor. They were thirty yards in when two men in tactical outfits carrying SCAR M17s turned into the corridor. The team opened fire on the two.

A series of doors appeared to be closing between the two forces. One door pushed across the corridor from the right side and the next came from the left. A door came down from the top of the ceiling and one went up from the floor. The same thing happened from behind the team. The area between the doors began to fill with a tranquilizer gas. The team from the back collapsed to the floor.

The team from Buy More came down the trap door in the home theater room. They were working down the corridor when the doors sealed on them and the gas was dispensed.

Morgan and Alex went up to the Buy More. They dealt with the Fire Fighters that responded to the alarm. Chuck, Casey and Devon transported the two teams into the holding cells. They did find the Major and she was put in a separate room. The process took an hour but all were accounted for, striped of their weapons and tactical gear.

Ellie and Devon reviewed the tranquilizer and the truth serum that was to be used. They agreed that it should work and gave the truth serum to Jane and the Major. Julie and Aaron would get the same treatment if the results from first were not satisfactory. Then they went to the others and made sure they had enough tranquilizers to keep them asleep for quite a while.

Jane was the first to wake up. She woke in the chair of the holding room. The chair was fastened to the floor. It had metal restraints on her wrists and ankles. Her tactical uniform was gone and had been replaced by hospital scrubs. She watched as the door opened and General Beckman entered.

"Jane, I won't waste your time or mine. Whom are you working for?"

"Formax," was Jane's response.

"What is the name of the person whom you work for?"

"Anthony J. Delano."

"What were your missions today?"

"Check on recruitment and eliminate the Intersect."

Diane went on, "Tell me. Who has the Intersect?"

"Major Dunwoody and Morgan Grimes."

"Which Intersect were you to eliminate?"

"Grimes."

"Is Anthony Delano the head of Formax?"

"Yes."

Diane continued, "Are there any others with Anthony?"

"No."

"Are there any other leaders, like you in Formax?"

"Yes."

"What are their names?"

"Lynn A. Roberts and Robert L. Andreas."

"Do you know where they are now?"

"Lynn was headed to Paris and Robert is in Rome."

In the control room Chuck looked at Sarah, "Anything else?"

Mary said, "Might as well ask who Anthony works for."

Back in the holding room, Diane asked, "Who does Anthony work for?"

"Don't know. But he said it's someone who believes Knowledge is Powder."

Chuck smiled, "Okay now we know our target."

"Well, this should certainly be enough for Beckman," Casey agreed.

"We'll cross check their answers against a regular lie-detector and then see if they all say the same thing. We'll also give the tape of the lie detector to the General. That should wrap this part up," Sarah smiled.

Chuck nodded in agreement. They met in the conference room with everyone and explained. After calling General Beckman, they set up arrangements for the prisoners. They were to be picked up at the parking lot in back of the Buy More.

**Casa Bartowski  
>June 22, 2011<strong>

"To a successful mission," Chuck held up his glass to Sarah. He was happy. No one got hurt and they got several answers.

"Yes, and it worked. The General said she would pay us," Sarah held up her glass and tipped it into Chuck's. After a sip, "Morgan was right. Those cubes do change everything."

"Amazing, isn't it. But some things don't change." Chuck held his glass up again.

"Yes, to us forever." Sarah raised her glass and tipped it to his.

Chuck took a bite of the lasagna. "This is really good."

"Yeah, I've been talking with Ellie and she gave me some tips. Depending on how much time we have, we can try a few more meals that she showed me," Sarah smiled.

"Wow, that's great." Chuck had another bite.

"So, not much on tonight," she saw him nod. "Good, an early night," she was beaming.

**Unknown Location  
>June 20, 2011<strong>

The statue of an eagle overlooked the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "A third of Formax was taken down"

The static sounding reply, "Copy."

_A/N Please leave a review. Thanks for all the ideas in the reviews. Please keep them coming. _


	10. Chapter 10 the Lichtenstein

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter —10 the Lichtenstein

**Casa Bartowski  
>June 23, 2011<strong>

They had each gotten up earlier in the night almost morning. Their body clocks were just getting adjusted back to California time. Chuck rolled over awake looking at his wife, "Good morning, Beautiful."

Sarah pressed up against him, "Good morning. You getting up?"

"Um, I'm good," he kissed her neck and brought his arm around her waist.

Sarah smiled, "Yes."

In a while they were holding each other. Chuck pulled her a little closer, "Pancakes or waffles?"

"Pancakes, please." Sarah asked, "So what are we going to do today?"

Chuck rolled out of bed, "We'll check in with the General to see if she has anything else, but I think we ought to plan on going back to Volkoff and see if we can find out a little more." He was almost at the bedroom door, "I'll start them."

"I'll be right in," Sarah responded. They had started a morning routine. Chuck would begin the preparation of the mix, pancake, waffle or gravy, and then begin the other parts of the meal. Then when Sarah had finished her shower she would relieve him and finish the meal.

When Sarah in her bathrobe came back in the kitchen, she asked, "So, today we'll be mostly at the Central?"

"Yeah, I think so." Chuck offered her a cup of coffee and then headed to the shower.

Sarah was putting the pancakes on the table when Chuck came in from dressing. "Looks great." Sarah took her seat then he sat down. "I guess I'll also have to stop by Buy More for a little while. I am sure there'll be a stack of computers in the back for repair. I wish those guys could get some of them done."

"Okay, just don't spend all day with them." She eyed him, "You know what I mean."

"Yes, of course," Chuck nodded.

"I'll get the trip to Volkoff set up. Who should go?" Sarah finished putting syrup on her pancakes and passed it to Chuck.

"Let's take Zondra and Carina. Zondra can help with any IT stuff we need and you and Carina can check with the Intelligence Section. I would like to know how they are getting information."

"Your mom said it was mainly from all the people they sent out to do their sales. They would keep track of everything and provide almost constant reports," Sarah shrugged her shoulders. She really wasn't that sure either.

"Okay, let's check on that."

Sarah smiled at Chuck, "You know, we did say we ran a free lance spy organization."

"Right," he took a sip of coffee.

"We'll check," She nodded and picked up her ringing cell phone. Sarah looked at the display and saw that it was Zondra. "Good Morning. Sure, we'll be right over." She hung up and looked over at Chuck. "Zondra, apparently General Beckman has something for us. She wants a meeting in thirty minutes." She took her last bite of the pancakes. "I'll be back in a second."

Chuck finished his coffee and put the dishes in the washer. Sarah came back in the kitchen just as he finished cleaning up. "Okay, let's go."

**Orion Central  
>June 23, 2011<strong>

Gather in the conference room where Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Alex, Zondra, and Carina. Morgan was back at Buy More dealing with a delivery. Mary was taking care of Clara while Ellie and Devon were at work. Chuck had just finished refilling Sarah and Casey's coffee cup when the screen came on.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem that we need your help with. As you know the IAEA has recently highlighted a suspected link between Wissen Nuclear and terrorist organizations." General Beckman waited a second and then pictures began to show next to her. "Our information indicates the following men will be trying to contact Wissen representatives. They include Ali Assar, Kassandra Martin and Nester Chocker. We would like your organization to break those connections. Any questions?"

Chuck and Sarah shook their heads. Casey watched them and spoke up, "None, General. We'll get back with you." The screen went blank.

Sarah looked over at Chuck, "Did you get anything?"

"Well, Mom may know a little more about Wissen. They were started in the early eighties. Mainly out of then East Germany. Likely backed by the Soviets and KGB. They were early arms traders and finally went into nuclear power production. The information on that side seems a little muddled with several reports of sales of nuclear components, but most of the reports were later shown to be false. After the German unification, the headquarters of the company has not been traced." Chuck's eyebrows narrowed. "Okay, a guess. This could be linked to the other organization we are trying to find."

Carina and Sarah nodded in agreement.

"So, anyway each of the others is tied with various terrorists groups. They are not that high up, but their locations are not generally known. Each has a lethal background. Ali generally operates out of Turkey, Egypt or other Middle Eastern countries. And then Kassandra from Argentina is sought of freelance and operates out of the buying country. Then Nester is from Eastern Europe," Chuck finished.

Carina looked at them, "So, how are we going to do this?"

In a chorus she heard, "A Lichtenstein."

"Do we need to get your dad?" Chuck asked.

Casey grunted an affirmative.

"Well, let's get a little background on this first. I think we ought to go with the plan we had this morning. Let's go over to Volkoff headquarters with Carina and Zondra. We can get more information there. Casey, Alex and Morgan can handle things here. When we figure out how and where to do this, they can start lining things up while we get in place," Sarah's eyebrow went up looking for agreement.

"Sounds good, let's head over this afternoon. That way we don't lose too much time," Chuck smiled in response.

"You just want to get out of doing the computers," Sarah smiled.

"How'd you guess?"

**Volkoff Industries  
>June 25, 2011<strong>

Chuck, Sarah, Carina and Zondra were at the long table in a dark room at Volkoff. Chuck was busy at the keyboard in front of his position. Each of the other seats around the table was similarly equipped but Chuck said he would set this one up. The room was one of the secure rooms in Volkoff. Peter Romin had set it up for them. Carina and Zondra just finished sweeping the room. Peter gave them six new cubes to position and they had been turned on. Chuck's job right now was to verify that they were connected to the Volkoff computer core and nothing else. He was still typing away.

Carina looked over at Sarah, "So, you haven't explained who Lichtenstein is."

The corners of Sarah's month went to a smile, "It's a Con we tried once. My dad was here and..." She watched Chuck while she explained the rest. He was finishing and nodded at her description of the events. "Anyway, we are thinking of something similar."

Chuck interrupted, "Okay, we are set." He hit a key and the Orion shadow became visible again.

"Sarah, Carina, Zondra and Chuck, a good morning to each of you. What can I help you with?"

"We have a few questions, but first I assume that you have verified that we are secure?" Chuck asked.

"Yes, there are no others listening in on this."

"Is there a difference using the offices here?" Sarah asked.

"Oh yes dear, there would be some expectation of this at Volkoff. It's not like when you're at the other location and someone could see the hole we create when we are talking. But there is still a limit."

Chuck wasn't that happy with the last answer. He was sure they were connected directly with the computer core. He did not know of a way that an outside source could be used to determine that. But he decided that time was critical to get some answers. He went on, "Is Knowledge is Powder connected to Wissen Nuclear?"

"Yes, there are Knowledge is Powder agents at Wissen," the Orion shadow answered.

"How far back does the connect go?" Chuck continued.

"To their beginnings."

Sarah was thinking ahead, "So, do you know where Wissen is located now?"

"Unknown location."

"Can you provide a listing of their people?" Chuck followed Sarah's thinking. This was going to have to be reversed.

"List has been sent to your computers."

"Next, we have three names: Ali Assar, Kassandra Martin and Nester Chocker. We need everything you have on them. Then we need you to put a priority on determining their location. And once their location is determined, we need you to track their movements and location until we intercept them." Chuck requested. Chuck made a few entries on his computer, "If you could, load the information you have on the three into this framework."

"Done. Their current positions are included. You will get automatic updates to on their positions. It would be best if we conclude this." The Orion hologram vanished.

Chuck went around the room and turned off each of the cubes. Then he set them outside the door of the conference room. When he got back to his seat, he unplugged his computer and turned it off. "Please if you would all do the same thing."

When the girls had done the same, Chuck began. "Okay, after we get done here, I'll ask you to leave the room for a minute. Orion placed their information into a format for the Intersect. I'll be able to up load the information. It will be a lot easier to access than reading through all of it." He paused and took Sarah's hand, "Do you think I should have him put all of the Volkoff intelligence into the format so I can add it to the Intersect?"

Sarah's eyebrows went up in surprise. Carina and Zondra were also. Sarah shook her head, "Chuck, I don't know. I mean how much can the Intersect and you deal with? Will that be too much information? And it is likely to have some conflicts. I think you need Ellie to take a look at that idea."

Zondra offered, "Would seem to me that the way you are handling it now would be the best. Whenever we are asked to do something, you can ask them for that information and then load it. That way you can focus on it. But you should check with Ellie."

"Okay, I'll ask Ellie," Chuck answered. He knew Sarah would be concerned and it was nice to know that Zondra was thinking about it too. "Anything we need to discuss?"

"We do need another session with Orion. I think it knows more about Knowledge is Powder," Sarah said.

"Yeah, it is avoiding things and there is likely a link there," Carina added. She smiled at Chuck, "It's like you are avoiding me. Sure we had contact but…"

"Got it. Married remember?" Chuck was holding up his ring finger.

Sarah was giggling.

Chuck shook his head, "Alright we'll do this again. Give me a couple minutes and I'll be right out." He stood while the girls got up and left. Once they were gone he went back to his computer. He did check the files first. Everything was in order and there were no problems with the files. He initiated the upload. It was over in a couple minutes and Chuck came out of the room. Sarah and the others were standing there. She asked, "You alright?"

"Yes, fine. Everything was good. I've got a good idea about these people and what they're doing. When we get back together this afternoon and call Casey, I'll let everyone know the highlights." Chuck took her arm, "Let's get back with Peter and continue with the rest of the business we wanted to conclude."

They went over and met up with Peter. Chuck and Zondra went to look at the IT section and Sarah and Carina went to talk with the intelligence analysts.

**Orion Central  
>25 June 2011<strong>

Casey was on the phone, "Morgan, get down here. You can take care of that later. They are going to call in another two minutes."

In a few seconds Morgan was coming down the stairs with Alex. They got over to the table and the call came through. Chuck, Sarah, Carina and Zondra were on the screen. Casey and Mary were seated at the table with Morgan and Alex.

Chuck started, "Okay, from what we found here we'll have to reverse the Lichtenstein. We'll have to take the place of the buyers. Morgan we are going to have you fill in for Ali Assar. The Intersect should have enough in it to keep up with any language used in the discussions. We'll have Sarah as Kassandra Martin. While Kassandra is from Argentina, her background is German and with Sarah's German it should work well. Then Carina is going to take the place of Nester Chocker. All the information we have indicates that there have been feelers out there from these people, but no firm contact has been. In no case has a buyer met one of the Wissen people. So, the first meeting will be on Tuesday. Sarah, as Kassandra, will meet one of the Wissen people. Casey, that also means we need you to turn the real Kassandra over to General Beckman."

The meeting continued to outline how the operation for the first buyer was going to work.

**Unknown Location  
>June 27, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Contact with principles, expected this week." It was the end of a long report.

The reply was, "Report any deviations."

_A/N Please leave a review. _


	11. Chapter 11 the Switch

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter —11 the Switch

**London, Heathrow Airport  
>June 28, 2011<strong>

Chuck was in a separate room with monitor screens. It had been relatively easy to set up as they got a little assistance from General Beckman and in-turn from MI6. Kassandra Martin was a person of interest in an old IRA bombing. MI6 promised that if captured, she would be out of the field for at least two months. And if convicted, she would get at least twenty years. So the set up looked simple, Kassandra would check in at the initial customs station. Then she would be sent down a hall to pick up her bags. After getting the bags she would be asked to come to a separate room to check the bags. At that point Casey would tranq her and hand her over to MI6.

Chuck activated the system shortly after Kassandra's plane landed. He watched the monitors and called out her position as she deplaned and went down the ramp from the plane and into the terminal. Kassandra walked out of the plane and followed the crowd. A bearded customs agent was ahead directing which path to take based she thought on the number of people. He pointed to the right and she started down the hall, there was a group of teenage kids in front of her and a couple with two babies behind. She was hoping to get through this as quickly as possible. As they continued down the hall she saw three stations. Each had a customs agent. The teenagers went to the one on the right. She took the middle station. She saw the family moving to the left station. The Customs agent was a girl with brown hair. She directed Kassandra where to pick up her bags and then the room to use for their inspection. Kassandra was happy because she made it to the luggage before the teenagers. She found her two bags and began her trek down the hall to the room. She walked into the room and saw the table there. She immediately went to the table and put the first suitcase on it. When she looked up at the customs agent, a tranq dart met her. As soon as Chuck saw that she was down, he disabled the system. The teenagers and family disappeared at the next corner and Morgan and Alex walked away from their stations. The MI6 agents came in a carried out Kassandra.

That afternoon Sarah was checking herself in the mirror. She had transformed herself into Kassandra Martin with dark brown hair that went to the middle of her back and dark eyebrows. She wore a loose pink blouse and brown shirt with flats for shoes. She was already two inches taller than Kassandra and was trying to minimize the difference. She turned to Chuck, so does this match?"

"Yeah, you look fine. The hair is just right. It really does match hers," Chuck off handedly commented.

"Okay, so are you all ready?" she asked.

"Yes, they are already heading to the pub." Chuck pointed to the monitors, which showed two men approaching the pub below them.

"Okay, this should be easy." Sarah turned to leave.

"You remember the signal," Chuck asked as she headed to the door.

"Yes, I'm all set." She smiled at him. She knew he was still getting nervous when he sent her out alone. She smiled and knew she would be if she sent him alone too.

Sarah went down the back stairs and out into the street. Turning the corner she went into the pub and to the bar. The bartender, O'Casey, immediately recognized her and put a pint in front of her. She took it and looked around the room.

Sarah appreciated it. It was smooth. Tony Koman was sitting at the table behind her and to the right. He was with another gentleman. Tony looked up at Sarah when she was about done with the drink, and he waved at her. She waved back. As the other man looked at Sarah, he asked who she was. Tony replied, "Oh, that's Kassandra Martin. We had dealings with her before. Big buyer, does not like to be pushed. She'll call when she wants something. Trying to push things on her, just doesn't work. She'll walk away from it. Not sure if she thinks it's a trap, or if she thinks she will be losing money on the deal."

The man from Wissen Nuclear asked, "Do you think she is looking for you?"

"No, she would have come over if she wanted anything." Tony replied.

In a moment a tall blonde headed fellow came into the pub. He went over to her, took her hand and they left the pub.

When she got back up to the floor above the pub, Sarah smiled, "You were right. That was easy. We even got in a little sightseeing."

"Oh, where did you go?" Chuck asked her and Devon.

"Just down to Piccadilly and back. We wanted to make sure that if someone was watching they would have seen that we left the area, not just headed upstairs." Sarah answered.

"Yeah," Chuck almost kicked himself. He should have thought of that when they planned this. "Tony and the Wissen man left about five minutes ago. We'll break down here and head back to the hotel. We'll stay another night and then you can contact Wissen."

Casey came in the room next, "Must say this seems to be working. The Wissen man made some notes after you left."

"What about Tony?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, he left for the airport. His part is done. Like we agreed, we just needed someone to point you out to Wissen. We didn't need him to stay here and potentially make a mistake." Casey replied.

Sarah nodded.

Chuck closed his laptop, "Okay, everything is off. Let's head back."

When they got back to the hotel, everyone came into Chuck and Sarah's room. Morgan and Alex had their bags there along with Casey and Devon's. Devon was on the phone with Ellie checking to see if everything was okay. Mary had stayed back and watched Clara, while Ellie was at work. Carina and Zondra were at the table waiting to see what they were going to do that night.

Sarah looked at Alex, "You did a nice job this afternoon. You guys have a good flight back."

"Yeah, we let you know as soon as we set a time and place with Wissen," Chuck added.

"Okay, but remember if we don't have enough time to set up properly, call the meeting off. You don't want them mad at Kassandra before you get this through," Casey observed.

"Right, and if you guys find that either Ali or Nester are headed to an easy pick up place, let us know. If you have it secured, take them down and don't wait for us,' Chuck reminded them.

Morgan gave Chuck a hearty hand shake and bear hug, "Thanks man, this was fun. See you in a couple."

In a moment they had left and Chuck, Sarah, Zondra and Carina were left in the hotel room. Carina asked, "So what are the plans for tonight?"

"I got tickets to a play tonight, but first I thought we would go to a nice diner at a place Ellie suggested," Chuck said.

**London Hotel, UK  
>June 30, 2011<strong>

"Chuck, you sure you have everything?" Casey asked.

"Yes, Zondra's checked the security feeds. We have those and have verified that no one else has tapped them. Carina has the area under surveillance from a cell tower across the street. I'll drive her to the corner and if there is some kind of trick I can follow her in this Bentley," Chuck relayed.

Casey could not think of anything else. It needed to be an open meeting or the Wissen agent would back off. And they would lose the information and possible buy that was needed to stop Wissen and whoever this Knowledge is Powder was. "Okay, we'll be on-line and provide some extra eyes."

Chuck nodded his head and Sarah stepped out of the car. She was to wait on the corner. A man from Wissen would come to the corner in a cab. He was to get out and hand Sarah, the Kassandra double, a flower. She would then ask what he had for sale. Getting a verbal arrangement, she was to get back in the car with Chuck and leave. The transaction would be made under the watchful eye of Casey and the full team.

Sarah was waiting, watching for a cab. There was a couple that passed by, but none stopped. Carina was a top the tower watching down each street. She was calling out every time she spotted a cab coming toward the corner. Zondra had the surveillance cameras of every corner with in four blocks on her monitors. She was looking for a cab and then whether there was any vehicles following. She was looking for the opposition's back up.

Ten minutes had gone by and no cab. Finally, Carina called out, "Got one headed this way."

Zondra saw it, "He's got trailers. Two other cars and a van are following."

Chuck signaled Sarah. She saw the signal for the trailing cars. She put her unhappy face. They should have known not to make Kassandra wait.

The taxi pulled up on the other side of the corner from Chuck. A man got out of the cab and walked to Kassandra. He held up a flower.

Kassandra said in the harshest tone, "Warum Sie so spat sind?"

"Verkehrsprobleme, English please." The man stood there looking at Kassandra.

"Okay, I do not like standing in the open." She saw the other two cars and van go passed. "You know that I represent a viable source of funds and a willing buyer. What is your offer?"

"A source of enriched uranium. Opening price is ten million dollars. The pellets described in this document will come at a price of sixteen million each. And to avoid any problems, they'll be airdropped to the location specified by the buyers," the man held p a sheet of paper.

Kassandra took it, "We'll need verification of a usable product before meeting the opening price."

"As usual. The demonstration will be in Berlin on July ninth. Be in the Hotel Stratton lobby at noon. We will transport you and your inspector to the site to as you say to verify the product. Payment will be expected upon verification." The man looked at her eyes again, "Confirm attendance by the sixth at the number you used to contact us." The man turned and walked back to the cab. He got in and the cab drove down the street. The trailer cars and van followed.

**Unknown Location  
>June 30, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Contact made with buyer number one." It was the end of a long report.

The reply was, "Copy."

_A/N Please leave a review. _

_Think these translate this way (been a while)_

Warum Sie so spat sind? = Why are you so late?

Verkehrsprobleme = Traffic problems


	12. Chapter 12 the Takedown

,Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter —12 the Takedown

**Orion Central****  
>1 July 2011<strong>

Chuck was watching Casey and Morgan sparring. Every time Morgan would get in close to Casey, Casey would slap him away. Chuck could tell the Intersect was active. Morgan was at least moving faster than he normally did, but Casey's height was a big advantage. He was going to cut in when Morgan dove at Casey feet first. It was like he was sliding into home plate. His feet caught Casey and toppled him. Casey was on the mat as Morgan scrabbled around to pin him.

"Morgan, that was great! Where did you come up with that?" Sarah asked.

"Actually, that's my only offensive move. I learned that at the playground when someone bigger than both Chuck and I started a fight. He had our ball at his feet. The only way I could get it was to dive at his feet. It tripped him. That's the second time I've used it and it worked," Morgan smiled.

"Just pray, you don't get into a fight with anyone soon," Casey smirked.

"Well, he shouldn't have to. The meetings with Wissen agents have been pretty easy. The only tough problem was last time keeping Nester tranquilized. She did seem to be a lot like Tyler Martin, waking up all the time. Unless we have problems tonight, we should be okay," Chuck pronounced.

"I am certainly looking for a sweep. I mean, look at us, we are good. Right?" Morgan looked back at Casey.

"Right," Casey almost moaned.

Chuck looked at Morgan, "Remember what I…"

Morgan took it up as Chuck left off, "I know, run. Don't stick around to fight."

Sarah and Casey looked at each other. They turned to Chuck, "And why didn't you?"

Chuck and Morgan looked back at them, "Twenty years of training."

Morgan continued shrugging his shoulders, "I never had a chance. Chuck had to do it all." He looked at them hopelessly, "I ran."

"Okay, so go over the code phrases," Chuck started.

**Istanbul ****  
>6 July 2011<strong>

The set up for Morgan was a little different than the previous two meets with a Wissen agent. Morgan was to walk up to the bar. The Wissen agent was to ask a question and Morgan was to respond in an appropriate language. They just did not know which one. Ali had told them it was kind of a joke he had with Wissen. It made them send a new agent every time.

The team was in place at the hotel restaurant and bar. Chuck and a dark haired Sarah sat at a corner table. Carina and Zondra were at a table across the room. Casey was at the other end of the bar looking like he had a few too many. He was stacking the glasses he finished in front of him.

Morgan walked to the door of the bar. He looked around, taking in every person. Then he did it again. On his third time looking at everyone in the bar and restaurant, Casey's wrist got a little closer to his mouth, "Look, Moron, just walk to the bar and sit down!"

Morgan did not have to be told again. He quickly walked over to the bar and took a seat. There was a man in a dark suit on one side and an open seat on the other. When the bartender came over, Morgan asked for a Raki and water. In a while the man seated next to Morgan left. It was a little longer before another man came in the room and sat down beside Morgan.

The man also got a Raki and water. Turning to Morgan with the Raki in hand, he said, "Συγγνώμη, είμαι αργά. Η κίνηση ήταν κακή."

Morgan's eyes got big. He almost thought he wouldn't remember, then it came back and so did the language flash. He looked into his glass and said, "Κανένα πρόβλημα. Οι επιχειρήσεις θα είναι καλό."

The Wissen agent spoke quickly, "Okay, back to English. Speaking Greek here is not a healthy idea."

Morgan replied, "Fine. Now tell me the details."

The agent took a drink of the Raki and a swallow of ice water. He went on, "There will be a demonstration in Berlin on the ninth of July. We will pick you up at the Hotel Stratton lobby at noon. Payment will be expected when we show you the product."

In-turn Morgan took a big swig of the Raki. His eyes went wider than before, hearing Casey's growl in his earpiece, Morgan swallowed and got the water. Trying to calm himself, he looked back to the man, "I'll be there."

The agent turned and walked out of the bar. Morgan sat there and stared at the drinks. In a second he heard Casey, "Okay, you survived. Don't get cocky. Just leave the bar and head back to our rooms."

**Orion Central  
>July 7<strong>**, 2011**

Chuck was at the monitors. Each had a picture coming from the mini-cubes. Sarah, Zondra, Carina, Casey and Morgan had mini-cubes hidden on them. Sarah's was the larger cube on her necklace. Zondra had hers as a part of her purse. Carina had two constructed into the latches on her briefcase. Casey and Morgan also had them as a part of their brief cases. Chuck turned on the cubes. The scene changed to the deck of the Death Star and a squad of Storm Troopers surrounded them.

"Hey, totally cool!" Morgan called out.

"Don't get carried away," Casey said. "Remember we wanted to display the current surroundings and show a squad of Marines surrounding us."

"Yeah, I know. Still working that. It looks like it takes a few minutes to collect enough data on the environment. Okay, got it now. Switching over," Chuck relayed. The Storm Troopers vanished and the room looked like it was back to normal. "Okay, anyone see anything different?"

"Chuck, we can't tell if there is anything different. You just switched from the Death Star to the meeting room," Sarah responded. She was beginning to wonder if this would work.

"Wait, wait. It is not turned on. You are looking at the real room." He paused. "Okay, now. This is the new cube room."

Casey grunted, "Okay, that works."

"Good. And here's the Marines," Chuck said. The doors to the room in the front and the back burst open with three Marines holding their weapons on the room occupants. Four more Marines came in through the windows with their weapons in the same position. As soon as they were in position the Marines vanished. "Okay, so much for fun."

"Hey, enough fun. Show me a bed. I am still tired from that trip," Morgan ended.

**Berlin  
>July 9, 2011<strong>

Sarah was first. She went to the lobby of the Stratton Hotel. Zondra was with her as her technical expert. They stood there for a while and finally spotted the same contact from their original meeting walking into the room.

"I am glad you could make it. No traffic problems this time." He pointed to the front door. "Your ride is out front. They will take you to our secure location."

Sarah and Zondra walked out to the curb. Chuck watched through the monitors. It looked okay. Two men got out of the black limo and helped Sarah and Zondra to their seats. In a second the limo was headed down the street.

Morgan was next. He walked into the lobby and was looking all around. Chuck called to his earpiece, "Calm down. They'll come to you."

Morgan went over to the center table in the lobby and started to wait. It wasn't long and his contact showed. About the same time Carina and Casey came into the lobby. Casey was Nester's second. Morgan's contact walked out with Morgan and got in a car parked in front of the hotel. They started down the road.

Carina and Casey quickly met the Wissen agent and followed him to a van beside the hotel. Chuck called over his head set, "All teams on the road. Nothing unusual."

The trip was almost an hour. Sarah's limo got to the gate first. The two guards open the massive iron gate and let the limo pass. It continued up a gravel road winding back and forth higher to a drawbridge. They waited a second and the bridge was lowered. The massive castle like building was back lit by the setting sun.

Kassandra smiled and asked a question for the first time during the trip, "So, just a little hideaway for the weekends?"

"No," the Wissen man looked at Zondra. "Certainly, you understand we must be a little discrete. The area we will be headed to is lined. Keeps down the signature."

Chuck listened to the conversation and nodded, "Got it. The signal to the cubes should still work. You'll know it doesn't if the cubes can't relay my voice to you." Chuck watched the scene as Sarah and Zondra got out of the limo. The shot from Sarah's necklace was the best. It showed the height of the walls and the front of the central hall. It was a massive castle built back in the Middle Ages. Shortly the car and then the van pulled into the castle.

Sarah turned to her escort, "Hey, what's the meaning of this?"

He smiled in response, "We wanted to make sure we got a fair price. Now follow me, please." He pointed to the central hall doors. The group followed Sarah and her escort. There were stairs in the side of the hall that were obviously new. They went down at least two floors and through a door into a rather large room. The walls were covered with an oak wood finish. The carpet was tan with the silver table in the middle becoming the focus of the room. The escorts showed the buyers to their seats around the table.

As soon as everyone got into the room the lights dimmed a bit. The scene at the front of the room came on. There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder. It was like the camera was in back of the desk and you could see the shoulder, arm and hand of the person sitting at the desk. He cleared his throat and began, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. In a minute, Andrei will be bringing in the sample. You'll have ten minutes each to complete whatever analysis you wish to complete. Then we will open the floor to bids." The screen went blank. Andrei opened the door from another side of the room and wheeled a cart into the room.

Zondra got up first and took her bag over to the cart. Her first probe showed her what they were after. It was weapons grade plutonium. She nodded to Sarah. Sarah confirmed, "We got what we want?"

Zondra replied, "Yes."

It was enough for Chuck to hear that the article was real. But he was having a problem with something that wasn't real. He replayed the video with the man in the screen. Chuck moved closer to his screen. It was apparent. The hand looked like the filtered image of a TV picture captured by a digital video camera. It had alternating dark lines and lines with the picture.

Sarah wondered why Chuck hadn't responded. She looked at Zondra, "Any problems?"

Chuck knew that this might create a problem but he thought it was important. He configured his systems to get Orion. The image appeared, "What is it, Chuck?"

"Analyze the picture of the man at the desk." Chuck pushed the file to the Volkoff main frame.

"This is confirmation. That is the lead of the KIP organization. We have his current position. I need you to keep his focus on the mission you are conducting." Orion said and was gone.

Chuck got online with the others, "Okay, Orion has a lock on their leader. We must keep him engaged in the bidding. Stay alert."

Everyone in the conference room continued to concentrate on their current tasks. Zondra nodded to Morgan. He came over and started looking at the sample. He took his backpack and got out his measuring equipment. He put in the probe as shown in the mission workup. He was able to get the readings and thoughtfully stroked his beard, even though he had no idea of what they meant.

Casey was next. He went through the same procedure and nodded to Carina.

A few minutes later, the screen came on. "Now, that you have had a chance to review the product, Andrei will begin the bidding. And as a little motivation, the top bid will become the selling price. No other offer will be accepted. And if you and your organization cannot meet the bid…well, we will no longer need your services."

Sarah spoke up first, "Sorry, but I had not yet heard what we are bidding on. The sample is of good quality. But you have not spelled out the qualities available and the time frames for deliveries."

The man in the screen offered, "We believe your sponsors are not capable of producing much more than a dirty bomb. We will provide the specs, in that case. The per bomb unit would contain twenty-five one gram pellets. We will provide enough product for your sponsors to assemble one unit every six months. Andrei?"

Casey whispered to Carina. She asked, "So how we will get delivery? Do we pick it up from you or will you meet us at specified locations?"

"We do like our security. You will pick it up from us at the locations and times we specify. Enough. Andrei begin."

Andrei began, "Bidding will start at ten million US. Do I have a starter?"

Sarah nodded. Andrei continued, "Ten million, do I have eleven? Do I have eleven?"

Morgan put his hand up. Andrei said, "Eleven million, do I have twelve?"

Morgan put his hand up again, "Whoa wait. I am not sure why do we need to bid against each other? We could just settle at eleven and all pay."

"Yes, well there is one small problem. We only have enough for two parties. So if you don't bid high enough, it will be a random draw. Do you feel lucky today?" They could almost see the shadow smile.

**Unknown Location  
><strong>**July 9, 2011**

There was a statue of an eagle on the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "Team one in position. Team two five minutes out."

The static sounding reply, "Standby."

_A/N Please leave a review._

_Okay hope this works in FanFic…__, from on-line 'stars21' translator:_

Συγγνώμη, είμαι αργά. Η κίνηση ήταν κακή = Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was bad

Κανένα πρόβλημα. Οι επιχειρήσεις θα είναι καλό. = No problem. Business will be good.

_With possible trips and work coming up, I'll be switching this to a posting on Monday. Should be able to keep up that way._


	13. Chapter 13 the Last Man Standing

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 13—the Last man Standing

**Outside of Berlin  
>July 9, 2011<strong>

The figure at the desk with the KIP slogan had explained that there could only be two buyers. The third buyer, either because they did not have the money or because of a random draw, would be eliminated. He taunted them by adding, "Do you feel lucky?"

Morgan immediately pushed the bid to thirteen million.

Chuck said once again, "Continue to hold them off and get ready to leave." Chuck was trying to reestablish contact with Orion at the same time using the cubes to access the system in the castle. He had narrowed the connection to the least amount of bandwidth hoping to avoid detection while allowing Orion to provide some information. His computer responded with a text message back from Orion. 'Team two is two minutes from target. Request your team hold them until then.'

Chuck looked back at the monitor, "Okay, they are two minutes out. Keep bidding or ask more questions."

The bidding continued for another minute. The price was up to sixteen million dollars. Morgan raised his hand to ask a question, "So, could we win the bid and then buy both sets, sort of a last man standing approach?"

The figure at the desk chuckled. "Well, an interesting concept. But I suspect that each of you is now close to your limits. Of course, I did not factor your own finances. Bidding for the kit and making sure you're not the odd man out, may lead you into using your own funds. But be that as it may, I doubt any of you will be able to buy two kits. Now may we please conclude the auction? Andrei?"

Andrei began. Sarah took the bid up another five hundred thousand. The next two bids took the rest of the time. Chuck finally saw the message he wanted, 'Attack underway. Withdraw your people.'

"Okay, everyone. Let's get out of there," Chuck said trying to get the urgency across. "I have access to the buildings systems. The door you used to get in the room is open."

They had already established the sequence. Sarah got up from her chair. Motioning to Andrei she said, "Sorry, got to go." She reached down and stepped away from her chair. Halfway to the door it was obvious that she had her new Sig out and ready.

The guards were too slow to react. Sarah brought her gun up and knocked the first guard out. Morgan had already swung around in his chair and took the second guard out with a tranq dart.

Chuck activated the holo program. Each of the Wissen people in the room watched as a barrier wall came down from the ceiling. Chuck had used a new program that Volkoff included in their bag of tricks. Since the walls appeared and had a solid flat surface, it was easier to induce an electrical current across the surface of the wall. Andrei saw the wall come down just as the two guards fell. He went to push against the wall but received a small shock at the surface. It was enough to convince him not to push on the wall.

On the other side of the room, Carina's escort had pushed through the wall when he first stood up. Chuck had a scary surprise for him. A new wall appeared another five feet from the man. And at the same time, the floor in front of him appeared to fall away. The pit appeared to be bottomless. He did not move.

Casey went to the front table and grabbed the sample case. Carina and Zondra had their weapons out. They followed Casey and Morgan out the door of the room. Morgan reached into the false bottom of his case and got out his special weapon. It was the special 'Splatter' as he called it. It would launch cubes into the wall or ceiling and make a small splat sound as the glue adhered to the surface.

Chuck called out, "Sensors show a likely bomb kit to your left and down the hall about thirty feet. We need to get that if possible."

Casey grunted, "Copy. Heading that way." Carina and Morgan followed. They found a door at about the right distance. Casey motioned for Morgan.

"What do you have Casey?"

Casey looked at the entrance. "There is a key pad. Can you break the cypher?"

Chuck called out to Morgan, "Hey Buddy, can you try this? I have a bad angle."

Casey grunted and moved aside. Morgan looked to the nearest cube with a questioning face. Chuck added, "Watch the sequence of the numbers on the key pad. You should be able to flash on them and get the password sequence. If it does not work, move the cube over so I can see the key pad."

Morgan nodded that he understood. He turned back to the keypad, watched it for a few seconds and flashed. He entered the number.

Casey put out his hand and moved Morgan away from the door. He looked at Carina and held up a flash bang. She nodded and held out four cubes. Casey held up three fingers and began the count down. Smashing the door, he skidded the flash bang across the floor. Carina lunched the cubes across the floor at the same time. Getting back against the door, they waited for the flash bang.

As soon as it went off the room was filled with men that looked like Elliot Ness FBI agents with the old style submachine guns. Casey entered the room next and looked around. He called out, "Everyone stay on the floor and keep your hands visible. We are in control."

Morgan lunched a couple cubes into the ceiling. It was enough to complete the sensor grid that Chuck needed. He directed the action, "The active components are in the wheeled case at the end of the table. It appears to be protected enough to use it to transport the material."

Casey went over to get the case. When he got back to Morgan and Carina, he whispered, "Lets get out of here."

Sarah and Zondra went to the stairs. They were winding stairs that went along the wall. There were no railings on the inside of the stairs. They placed cubes along the top half of the stairs. Chuck set it so the stairs turned into the middle sooner than they really did. The result was the first set of four guards fell the two stories before ever engaging Sarah and Zondra. Zondra took care of them with Tranq shots to make sure they did not get up.

When Casey wheeled the bomb kit out to the stairway, there were another two guards on the floor. Casey grunted his approval. "Hey, can you help with this? With the lining, it will be pretty heavy."

Sarah pointed to the ceiling of the staircase. There was a rig with a cables and hook on it. She smiled, "I think they were thinking the same thing. We'll get up there and cover you while you hoist it up."

Sarah, Zondra and Carina went to the top of the stairs. Zondra found the controls to the rig and lowered the hook. Casey and Morgan positioned the case and hooked a set of cables around the case. The rig did the rest. Casey and Morgan ran up the stairs and the group proceeded out of the castle. They quickly went to the van and put the case in the back. In a few seconds they were ready to go.

**Berlin  
>July 9, 2011<strong>

General Beckman had arranged for the team to be met at the U.S. Embassy. Chuck and Sarah were given a conference room. When they came to the conference table, Casey, Zondra, Carina and Morgan were waiting for them. Chuck began, "Well, General Beckman's teams have Ali Assar, Kassandra Martin and Nester Chocker. We just confirmed with the Ambassador that Wissen Nuclear is being sanctioned by IAEA. Participating governments will close their operations."

Casey offered, "The sample and bomb kit are safely in the hands of the Marines here at the Embassy."

"The thing we have not confirmed is whether Orion was able to engage KIP and complete the take down," Chuck set a cube in front of them. He took out his laptop and tried to connect. After working for a while, he announced, "I can't get the bandwidth in here."

In a second he looked down and his laptop displayed, 'Facility taken with cooperation of local police. Target had relocated and was not captured. Orion.'

"Okay, well it did not work. They did not capture him," Chuck relayed.

Morgan looked up at Chuck, "So, what are we going to do now? A little beer and bratwurst?"

Casey grunted approval as his stomach growled.

"Okay, I guess we get something to eat. We'll be leaving in the morning," Sarah told everyone. She nodded at Chuck, "I'll be the driver tonight since I have to fly tomorrow."

Chuck smiled, "Well, we'll see if we can…" He winked at her.

**Volkoff Industries  
>July 10, 2011<strong>

Sarah finished shutting down the plane and turning it over to the Volkoff ground crew. Chuck was waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. He gave her a hug. She smiled. Flying had always been fun to her and a smooth landing always topped off a good flight.

"So, we'll head over to Volkoff and see what happened. This time I don't care how long it takes, we'll get the answers we need," Chuck motioned to the limo waiting for them.

When they got to Volkoff headquarters, Chuck and Sarah were shown into one of the secure conference rooms. They went through the same procedure as the last time. Carina and Zondra swept the room. Peter Romin had six new cubes in position and they had been turned on. Chuck was verifying that they were connected to the Volkoff computer core.

Chuck looked up, "Okay got it. Turning on Orion."

Chuck, Sarah, Carina, Zondra, Casey and Morgan watched as Orion came to life. Chuck began, "Good morning, we would like a detailed report on the attack on the Knowledge is Powder facility. Also, an assessment on how the target escaped. Next, who is the leader of Knowledge is Powder?"

Orion replied, "Good morning. Reports will be provided. As to who the leader of KIP, as you now call it, is…"

Chuck was surprised there was a paused and looked down at his laptop. The connection had reinitialized.

"As I was saying, KIP is not a who but a what. Just as I am an AI, KIP is too. The only difference was that KIP started with Alexei's framework." As that sunk into to those present, Orion went on, "The attack teams for KIP consisted of two different kinds of teams. There was a physical team, consisting mainly of the local police. Then there were my teams. They are really virtual. We were trying to block KIP from moving. But there must have been one other escape path, as it got away before we got to the computer core."

Carina was a little puzzled, "If it is a computer program, how did it escape?"

Orion responded, "Just like your computer sends an image to the storage unit for back-up, KIP can replicate itself and be transmitted to another computer. When we find it stored somewhere, we try to block its path from that computer."

Chuck cocked his head still not sure this was the complete answer, "So when you talked about not being able to find him, you meant that he is always moving. At this current target, were you able to get a copy of the files?"

"No. What would have been the hard drive was cleaned and burned beyond being able to be read," Orion reported.

"So, how are you going to stop it?" Sarah asked.

"Actually, that is what you and your team are to do," Orion vanished.

**Unknown Location  
>July 10, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Location secure." It was the end of a long report listing the new security practices.

The reply was pointed, "A recurrence is not acceptable."

_A/N Please leave a review. _


	14. Chapter 14 Finding the Target

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 14—Finding the Target

**Orion Central  
>July 11, 2011<strong>

Chuck, Casey, Mary and Sarah were at the conference room table. Chuck and Sarah had gotten the some answers from Orion about Knowledge is Powder or KIP as they were now calling it. They were hoping to get some more details from Mary. Chuck explained what they found back at Volkoff. "Mom, so what was behind the Artificial Intelligence? No wait, other than Roark, Hartley or Dad, who was working on the Intersect and the Artificial Intelligence System. Or better than that, who were the bosses back then and are they still around? The Volkoff Orion might be hunting the KIP AI but is that really the thing or person behind all of this?"

"I have to agree. I've known Decker for a long time. He hasn't been taking orders from a computer," Casey added. "There has to be someone pretty high up on both sides of this."

"Guys, this isn't as easy as it would seem. Remember the people who were my age back when… turned into the CEO of Roark Industries, the Owner and CEO of Volkoff Industries, and more senior government officials, think Cabinet Members, Ambassadors, elected Congressional Members, and senior staffers than I can count." Mary just looked at Chuck and smiled.

Chuck smiled back and pointed to his head, "That's what this is for. With the Intersect I'll be able to look at a list and tell you where it," his smile got bigger, "intersects."

Casey swatted at him.

"But look, with Dad's software I can make this go really fast. We can figure out who has made decisions that influenced the Intersect, Fulcrum, the Ring and Agent X. I just need your list first." Chuck waited.

"Okay, but this will take a while. What all do you want with the names?" Mary asked.

Chuck turned over his computer and showed her what columns he had started. She took the computer and went to one of the back rooms to begin to fill in the list.

Casey headed back up to the Buy More to help Morgan control the latest outbreak of Lester and Jeff. They had apparently decided to hold a barbeque in front of the Buy More in hopes of luring the owners to stop by. Of course they were in the middle of opening the new Breast Masters. In a little while Casey called back down to the conference room, "Hey, you better get up here."

Chuck answered with the phone on speaker, "What can't you handle Jeff and Lester?"

A grunt was followed by, "Yea, but that isn't the problem. There must be a couple hundred people lined up out here."

"Oh boy, do you have enough food up there?" Sarah asked.

"No, these idiots only bought two packs of hot dogs and buns. We'll have a little time, because the crowd can see that we are unpacking a couple Beast Masters. That and the initial setup will take at least a half hour." Casey looked up from the Beast Master, "Oh, and there are more people going."

"Okay, we'll stop by Foodmart and get what we need. We should be there in time." Chuck grabbed his keys.

Sarah stood with her keys, "Call ahead and asked them to get the order ready. I'll drive."

Chuck went over and poked his head in the room his mom was working, "We're going out to get lunch ready. It will be a big cookout in front of the store. Give us about thirty minutes and join us."

Mary stayed busy at the laptop typing the names of the people she remembered. It was quite a chore remembering back over thirty years. Steve and her had been with the agency over ten years before Hartley was activated and they eventually had to move away from the children. So she started her list:

Stephen Bartowski, engineer/scientist, Orion

Hartley/Alexei, Agent X, Owner Volkoff Industries

Ted Roark, Fulcrum

John Landis, former boss, head of Section Delta

June Wattle, classmate, agent in charge of Corvus

Don Matson, head of Hydra

Howard Busgang, Intersect project

George Fleming, Intersect project, candidate selection

Roan Montgomery, agent

Diane Beckman, agent, partner with Roan

Jason Hendrix, Fornax Group, development of Agent X

Dave Ryder, agent in charge of Cygnus

Graham Langston, agent in charge of Echo, captured Triangulum

Donna Holstein, agent in charge of Aries

Leo Dreyfus, doctor treating early Intersect Hosts

Jonas Zarnow, developer of data and image overlay

Craig and Laura Turner, agent partners

Kathy Barnes, link to Orion?

Mary paused and went back to the list and began to fill in the other columns Chuck had on the spreadsheet. She looked at the list and saved. After closing the laptop, she headed up stairs to the barbeque. She was really impressed. Chuck and Casey were manning the two Beast Masters. Sarah, Morgan and Alex were in the middle putting the burgers, hotdogs and brats together and passing them out. Jeff and Lester were relegated to clean up. Mary watched the line. It went down in spurts. Each time Chuck or Casey cleared out the meats on their grill, another batch of people picked up their food. Everyone seemed happy, except Jeff and Lester. She heard them grumbling as they went passed. They were upset that Chuck and Casey ruin their chance at seeing the owners. She got a good chuckle at that.

As it turned out the Summer Blast, as Morgan titled it, pulled in the biggest sales of the year. The people went into the store after a good meal and generally found one of the sales items that they could not pass up. Morgan was beaming. Big Mike was exhausted.

Later that afternoon Chuck went back down to Orion Central. He checked the laptop. It was still processing the request. He checked the program and it was running. He could tell that the files were being pulled and cross-referenced. He looked up and saw Sarah coming down to the conference room. He pointed to the laptop, "Hey, it's still running."

"So, are you going to leave it?" Sarah asked, like that was the answer.

"Huh, sure. It can run until the morning. I don't have to watch it." He smiled. It had been a busy week. He was still recovering from the jet lag. He was not used to it. It seemed to him that it did not matter how much time you slept on the plane trying to get enough sleep to make up for the trip out and back, and then staying up all night at Volkoff was doing him in. "I'll be right there and we can leave."

Sarah was happy. She knew that the trips were getting to him. She had planned a nice quiet dinner and movie.

**Casa Bartowski  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

Chuck woke up and heard Sarah taking a shower. He stretched out in bed and tried to open his eyes to the morning. Getting up he went to the kitchen and started making breakfast. He had the coffee going and the first pancake off the grill when Sarah came in. Giving her a kiss on the cheek he left to take his shower and get ready.

Sarah had everything at the table when Chuck got back. She asked, "So, do you expect to get a firm answer?"

Chuck blinked at the question, "I don't know for sure. I was thinking that I would have to do the old Intersect thing to see if there was anything else. I mean the program will highlight the matching points between any of the names Mom put into the program." He took a bite, "But I suspect that I'll need to see where it really leads."

"Is there anyway to get the KIP AI program and see who is behind it?" Sarah wondered.

Chuck shrugged, "Maybe. We could find out if it was getting instructions from someone or maybe sending reports to them. But if Orion has been chasing it all these years, us trying to trap it in one computer seems almost impossible."

"Could we try going after Decker? Seems like he would know," she continued.

"Well, maybe we could put Casey on that. He seems closer to Decker and how he thinks." He took another bite, "You know that might be the way to handle this. We could have Casey and Carina track down Decker, Zondra and Orion could go after KIP, and we can follow up on what Mom found."

"I like that. Lets head over," Sarah finished. She took her last bite and started to clear the table.

**Orion Central  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

Everyone was seated at the conference room table. Chuck finished outlining the plan and asked if there were any questions.

Casey grunted, "Do we have any information on Decker since the last you saw him? And what about the comment that the last part was some kind of fake?"

Chuck looked at his mom to see if she knew anything. She shook her head, "No, there has been no other connect with Decker we know of. We can have Orion look at the last part again. I suspect it is linked to KIP, but we'll ask."

Sarah looked at Casey, "Do you have enough to start?"

"It's definitely a cold trail, but I'll see what we can do. And when we catch him?" Casey looked over while he was checking the action of his SIG.

"We ask him where or from whom he gets his direction. Then we might see if Beckman wants him for anything," Chuck answered.

Zondra asked the next question, "So, is it alright if I head back to Volkoff headquarters? It seems easier to talk with Orion back there."

"Yeah, sure. We'll set up a link between us. Let us know if you get any information on KIP," Sarah answered.

Mary asked, "So what did you program show?"

Chuck turned the laptop around, "Highest number of hits between Intersect, Fulcrum, the Ring and Agent X were Jason Hendrix, John Landis and Leo Dreyfus. Leo is the obvious surprise and we'll start with him to see if he has anything usable."

**Unknown Location  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Identified target." It was a concise report on location and forces employed.

The reply was quick, "Develop options."

_A/N Needed a transition for a new target, the people behind KIP. Please leave a review. _


	15. Chapter 15 Initial Contact

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 15—Initial Contact

**Orion Central  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

Casey was down at the main console next to the conference room. It was just like the old set up only its computers were hooked to Volkoff instead of some government server. Having the full Intersect files helped too. With the download that Chuck did to the Orion Central computer, they had both Volkoff and Intersect files at their disposal. Casey was going through file after file trying to find a pattern to Decker and whether a boss could be identified. These were Volkoff's files. Some appeared to be real government folders that must have been copies of the original. Others were notes from Volkoff operatives based on some finding or observation.

Chuck programmed the first and second iteration of the file search. First round looked for Decker and the second tied him to Intersect, Fulcrum, the Ring or Agent X. Casey was going through the files that indicated possible Intersect interaction. Each one was a little surprising. He decided that Chuck and Sarah had to see these. The first file elaborated how Decker had made the initial infiltration of the Intersect lab and the implementation of Sand Wall. The next file showed that Decker was assigned to track down Magnus. Casey was curious that Decker did not catch him before he started going after Professor Fleming. Decker was working the secrets from the nuclear reactor in North Africa. He was at Weap Con looking for some new weapon that was a game changer. He was tracking the development of the Ring Intersect and its lab. The last file showed that Decker was involved in tracking Adelbert De Smet's activities. Casey was certainly convinced Decker could be behind several of the missions they had, but he still was not certain how he could have used to shape their path.

Chuck and Sarah joined him in the conference room. Casey began, "You know that we are looking at stuff the CIA or NSA would have never released. I doubt that Beckman knows about any of this."

Not knowing the internals of either organization, Chuck asked, "Well, certainly someone had to have sent someone on these cases before we got involved. I mean someone had to have done some work to get the information in the Intersect."

Sarah looked at Chuck. Knowing that he was starting to ramble on, she cut in, "Yes, someone had to be assigned to the mission we got before they were given to us. But it is odd that Decker shows up on so many of them."

"Well, at least we know that Decker is worth investigating." Chuck looked over at Casey, "So, do you have a plan for getting to him?"

Casey grunted in the affirmative, "May have to get Beckman involved, but it should work." He then explained his plan.

**Near Thousand Oaks  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

Chuck was wrestling with this little visit from the time they got in the car. Sarah was driving and would look at him every once in a while. She finally decided he needed to tell her what the problem was. She turned down the music and asked, "So are you going to tell me?"

"What?" Chuck woke from his thinking.

"You know what?"

"Well, the good doctor told me I should tell my partner about what he said." Chuck looked down at the floorboard, " I know I should have told you before Shaw announced it in the conference room. But then you were making your Spy Will that day and then Dad showed me the governor. By then I thought we had everything under control. The governor would take care of things until I got rid of the Intersect."

"I know. Look we discussed this, remember?" She reached down and rubbed his leg.

"Yeah, but he expects that I should be close to going nuts," Chuck shook his head.

"We could use that to our advantage."

"Yeah right, I'll just stand there and you can move me around. Maybe I can drool a bit too."

"No, I didn't mean that. What were you here for last time?" Sarah was developing a plan, "Remember you had problems that the Intersect was working while you were asleep and it would interfere with your dreams?"

"Okay, so you want me to have more problems with dreams?" Chuck looked at her trying to see if she was kidding.

"Definitely, just think. We tell him that you are having problems with a dream that Decker and some unknown force has been controlling your life." She paused as she turned a corner, "While you're doing that, I'll put some cubes around the office. That way we can listen in to anything he passes on."

"Okay, I'll lay it on like last time," Chuck nodded as he started to think how this would go.

**The Office of Dr. Leo Dreyfus  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

Chuck was back lying on the coach, just like the times before.

A deep voice began again, "Are you comfortable Chuck?"

"No. Not really. I mean we've done this before and I still don't know how this works," Chuck was nervous again. He did not want to give anything away and he still really did not know the Doctor and how he took anything. He realized that in a poker game the Doc would win hands down. He had no Tells and gave nothing away. "So, are we going to talk about dreams?"

"Do you want to talk about dreams?"

"Well, this really wasn't my idea. So, I really don't want to talk about anything, to be perfectly honest." Chuck sat up and looked at the doctor, "I know you worked on it, but your sparkling conservation skills have really impressed me." He saw the doctor was starting to write something on his note pad. "Wait. Wait. That was another joke." He looked at the doctor write another note. "Okay. Okay. My jokes have not improved."

Chuck laid back down on the coach, "Why don't we start? You know, Sarah and I just got married. I mean we have been married for about a month now. This is really; I mean really the best part of my life. We've got a rock solid relationship. Not a problem there. I mean she was a little distant before, but we got over that. We got over the breakfast thing. While she showers I start breakfast. That way I can start what we would like. I mean I don't just go for a breakfast that only I like. I start making stuff that she likes. We had chocolate chip pancakes three days in the past week. Okay, I guess that is one of my favorites, but she likes it too. I mean she says she likes everything, but I did learn what she did not like. We don't have any of that.

"You know I don't think I am any better at this." He sat up a little and looked at the Doc. "You know we do love each other. It is the best. It isn't like before, now she says she loves me. So, I know she does."

The Doc just looked at Chuck, "Do you?" He wrote something down on the note pad and looked back at Chuck, "Why don't we get back to your dreams? It's my belief and I think we proved it last time you were here that it is your subconscious interacting with the Intersect."

"Yes, I know. And last time you said that you were afraid the Intersect had some side effects. How do you know that if I was the first Intersect?" Chuck was now sitting up looking at the Doc.

"You know that you weren't really the first. And you saw what the failed Fulcrum attempts produced." The Doc watched him.

Chuck realized even with the download he had from his dad's computer, that Hartley was probably the first major download. And he wasn't sure if you would count that as a success. "So, were you involved in the early tests?"

"What?" the Doc made another note. "So, what have your dreams been telling you?"

Chuck decided to go with it, "It has not been as straight forward as last time. The most pronounced thing is that an Agent named Decker tells me that everything that has happened has been controlled. And that someone else is controlling my life and even Sarah's. Then the dream shows me that Decker has been involved in six missions we had. One going back to the first Intersect with Operation Sand Wall."

The Doc wrote something down in his note pad again. "Chuck, you know that the interaction between the subconscious and the Intersect is still something to be concerned about. You were right. Several of the people you helped recover from the failed Fulcrum experiment began with dreams that were uncontrolled. They imagined that Fulcrum or we had started to control their lives and that everyone was out to kill them. Yes, extreme paranoia." He wrote something else on his note pad and then looked up, "Since you have already been deactivated, I don't have to pull you from field duty. But I don't want you to try anything strenuous. You should come back in a week for a follow-up. That should be enough time for the dreams to end or if your assumption is correct, for you to find what is real about the dreams." After closing his note pad, he stood up, "And don't forget to tell your wife about this little visit."

**Volkoff Industries, Russia  
>July 13, 2011<strong>

Peter Romin had shown Zondra to the secured room. She completed her on sweep and checked her laptop. Chuck gave her the instructions and she brought up the Orion program. Orion appeared in front of her. "Zondra, how can I be of assistance?"

"We are going after KIP." There was an unexpected pause. Zondra smiled, "I can just see that little hamster wheel turning away in your core. Now, let's get to it. First, show me your defenses against KIP. Certainly he or it has tried to attack you before. And if your contact with me puts you in jeopardy because of a trace line, which is what Chuck and I suspect, then we suggest you listen carefully, record what I am telling you on one or more of the cubes. Then at irregular internals, disconnect, move locations, reconnect, replay the information recorded on the cube and continue the discussion. Then I want a full report on the attack you instigated against KIP the last time when we were here and lessons learned of the failures that lead to him escaping. After that we'll discuss our plans to take KIP down, either by masking ourselves as his boss or a commando entry." She began waiting again.

In a second her image was displayed and she heard 'KIP the last time,' then her voice went into Chipmunk mode and finished what she said before. She shook her head, "Okay whizzo, next time play it back to yourself. I don't need to hear it again. Now display a summary of your defenses." She watched as the screen in front of the room came to life with a long list of programs and applications. She reviewed them. "We thought there might be a problem." She held up a thumb drive. "Chuck and I built you a few extras. The configuration for them is included with the executable. Unless you see a conflict, implement them now." She plugged the drive into the USB port at the bottom of the nearest cube.

"Now, give the summary of what happened in the attack and what went wrong," Zondra sat back.

Orion began the explanation, "Your teams provided an opportunity last time. When the bidding began, we were able to identify KIP's location. You were able to keep KIP activated while engaged in the auction. He was following each bid and making adjustments as the bidding continued. Based on that timing we identified his location in Southern Spain. I notified the National Police in this case and was transferred to the local police and their SWAT unit. They were within minutes of the location, a large data warehouse for one of their trading firms. The auction kept KIP busy, while the SWAT unit got in place. Just as the SWAT unit got to the main control room, KIP transferred locations."

Zondra asked, "How long does the transfer take?"

"In this case, the data line handled over one petabyte per second. The transfer was complete before they reached the servers. The analysis has shown that KIP is using locations that have data lines that are growing in capacity." Orion ended, disappeared for a couple seconds and reappeared.

Zondra smiled, "I assumed you are doing the same thing, using locations with reliable exits that are large enough to complete the transfer within seconds?" She saw the hologram of Orion nod. "Okay, I'll coordinate with Chuck and get back with you."

**Unknown Location  
>July 12, 2011<strong>

There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.

"Section H reported new defenses in place and then it moved locations. We have not identified the new position." It was another concise report.

The reply was quick, "Continue the search."

_A/N Please leave a review. _


	16. Chapter 16 Followup

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 16—Follow-up

**Orion****Central  
>July<strong>**16,****2011**

Morgan had several displays up. One showed Casey in his current hideout watching Decker. Another had Chuck and Sarah meeting with John Landis, Mary's former boss and head of Section Delta. They were meeting in his office. The next was Zondra typing at a laptop.

Alex was sitting next to Morgan. "So, what exactly are we doing?"

"Well, Chuck said that while we have everyone out, we couldn't all be watching what is happening with the others. So, I am supposed to relay anything that comes up to the others. We don't know if something one of them finds might help the others."

Alex nodded at the Morgan explanation, "So, can I help?"

Morgan pointed to one of the displays. "Oh sure, watching your dad seems a little boring. I mean he's got a great place to watch Decker, but standing all day in a wall must get hard." Morgan smiled.

"They're not going to find him. Are they?" Alex was getting concerned.

Morgan smiled, "No, I don't think so."

**Claremont****B&B  
>Kent,<strong>**UK  
>July<strong>**16,****2011**

Casey was in the wall between the kitchen and the dinning room. There was a large vent system built with the old style furnace. It provided the space Casey needed to get in position. He had entered the building from the basement window and climbed up next to the vent. Decker's mark was staying in the B&B. They had determined that the mark was Doctor Edmond Johansson.

Chuck found that most of the doctor's information was not in the Intersect. They had to rely on Chuck's mom and Volkoff's files.

Doctor Johansson had was on the Agent X project. Mary remembered that he was fired before the project had been completed. Steve had complained about his performance and a week later Mary heard that the doctor was no longer working on the project.

Once they got the Volkoff file, Chuck flashed on the doctor's picture. The doctor, under the name of Philip Reynolds, had worked for Fulcrum on their Intersect project. He was listed on the access list for the facility with Brad White and the others from the suburbs. Philip was again included on the roles for Roark Industries. After the demise of Roark, Reynolds/Johansson had dropped off the radar.

The information they had on Decker's mission was inconclusive. There was no indication whether Decker was to eliminate Johansson or just follow him. In either event, Casey was to provide surveillance of Decker with the goal of finding out who was giving him orders.

At the moment Casey was watching through the wall vent. Johansson and Decker were seated at different tables. Casey smiled watching Decker. He had reached into his pocket and palmed something. Casey guessed it was one of the new GLG-40s. Decker went over to the tea service and got a cup. On his way back to his table he bumped into Johansson. Casey was sure that Decker planted the device on Johansson. He watched as Decker took a seat at his table and appeared to hold something else in his hand. Casey was sure it was the GLG-40 synctablet, the controller and recording device for the GLG series. Casey pressed a key on his cube control pad. In-turn he heard Morgan come back, "Got it. We are locked on the signal."

Johansson left after finishing his tea and reading his paper. Decker followed shortly there after. Casey started to climb back down the vent and to the basement. He dusted himself off and then used a cube to call in. "Morgan, are you tracking the signal?"

"Yeah man, Chuck was right. This is simple. The synctablet puts out a signal to control the GLG so we have Decker's position too." There was a pause. Morgan came back on, "Looks like they might be headed to the rail station. I should be able to find out which train when Johansson gets his ticket."

"Got it," Casey ended.

Casey was about to head out when Morgan replied, "You'll need to get on a train too. Remember the trains do get there faster than driving all those back roads."

"Got it. Anything else?" Casey thought he might as well check before he got interrupted again.

"No, Chuck and Sarah are just now getting to Landis' office. Zondra said she was going to work late and will call-in when she is done."

"Okay, I'll catch up with Decker. Let me know which train," Casey put the cube back in his pocket.

**Senator****Landis****Office  
>Washington,<strong>**D.C.  
>July<strong>**16,****2011**

Chuck wasn't sure if he was more nervous here or back at Dr. Dreyfus' office. General Beckman had arranged the meeting so that clearances could be passed. The Senator was on the Intelligence Committee and had been briefed on the Intersect. Chuck and Sarah had spent some time with Mary going over what Landis had done when he was her boss. She said that she thought that Landis stayed in the Intelligence world the whole time. She was amazed that he had time to run for the Senate, but she remarked that Landis' father had been a Senator and he filled the position when his father died. The Governor was happy to appoint him to the vacant position and the next election was a runaway.

The Senator's secretary had them waiting in the reception area outside Landis' office. The door opened to his office. They could hear the visitors thanking the Senator for hearing their case. The visitors walked out of the office with the Senator. He shook their hands and they left the office. The secretary pointed over to Chuck and Sarah.

"Ah yes, my next guests. Welcome. Sam and Chuck isn't it?" Senator Landis walked over with his hand out. "I guess I haven't seen you since you were little. How are you?"

Sarah immediately was surprised and used her training to attempt to hide the fact. He hadn't called her Sarah, he used…then he was in front of her, "Senator, we are so happy that you would meet with us."

"Oh, more than happy to." He smiled at Sarah and began to take Chuck's hand. "How's your mother?"

Chuck responded, "Very good. She said to say Hi."

"Yes, well, I suspect she had a little more to say than that. Let's go into my office. We can talk there." He pointed to the door of the office.

They walked into the office and Landis pointed again to a table with chairs. Chuck pulled out Sarah's chair and then took the next seat. Landis sat across from them. He began, "So, how can I help you?" And then with a smile, "Or did you come to offer your new services…"

Chuck held up his hand, "Thank you. We have actually come to ask a few questions about the time you were mother's boss and what ties you may still have to that time."

"Oh, that's going to be a bit complicated. You see we are cleared to talk about the Intersect and those activities or missions you had. What I did or did not do when I was your mother's boss is not a part of the Intersect," he ended and then began to correct himself.

Chuck caught what he said, "No, you're right. You, Mom, Dad and the others involved with the Intersect are not a part of the Intersect files. But we are here trying to piece together some of what was happening back then and what maybe going on now."

"Why? What is happening now?" Landis asked.

Chuck agreed with his mom. Landis seemed to turn things back at you and ask questions. He decided to be a little more direct as his mom suggested, "There appears to be two factions fighting each other. One is led by someone associated with the phrase, 'Knowledge is powder.' The two sides are locked in combat, but we believe there maybe more to it."

Sarah had been watching the exchange. She saw the reaction when Chuck talked about KIP. Landis knew something. She decided to jump start this a little more, "So, what did Andromeda say about us?" She saw that it caught him off guard.

Landis smiled at them, "They said you would be good. I am impressed." He reached over and turned on a laptop. "Did you bring any of those cubes with you?" It was his turn. He saw Chuck wince. "Thought so. Why don't you put one here?" He pointed to the front of the table. Chuck put the cube in the position suggested. "You know my grand kids would just love these things. Are you going to put them out for movies or games?"

Chuck smiled. He and Morgan had been working that ever since they put together the Club. "Yes, we expect to have them available in November. Right now our legal department is working through the frequency issues and privacy laws. We'll let you know when we are ready for market."

Landis smiled. "Now to answer your question."

**Volkoff****Industries,****Russia  
>July<strong>**16,****2011**

Zondra had been in the secured room almost round the clock. In the past three days she and Orion had identified a pattern in the movements of KIP. The previous day was a scramble. Zondra and Chuck had gone through several scenarios on how to block KIP from escaping and at the same time take out his backup. They had found that the backup was contained at two locations back. They also found that when KIP vacated there was no trace of the program on the files at that location. It started about the same time as Chuck met with Senator Landis.

Zondra typed in the final command. Orion's teams were alerted. The snipers took out the antenna feed horns. The ground teams detonated the charges near the buried cables and telephone poles. Finally, another team disabled the nearby cell towers. The attack was simultaneous.

Both the active site and the backup were isolated. A lot of discussion had gone into the next move. While SWAT teams entered the buildings and went as fast as they could to the central control stations, other teams took out the power to the buildings. Both the external and uninterruptable power supplies were disabled.

Chuck was concerned that KIP would erase itself if it found no way out. The only way to stop that was to take away the power. They figured that the final push would be to have the SWAT members rush to the control rooms and find any laptops and take out the battery packs.

Both teams reported success. Their targets had been isolated and the power cut off within the parameters established.

Zondra was on the communications net with the teams, "Okay, you know the next step. Disconnect one of the servers and check for the X file. Report back and power off the server." She heard the copies come back.

In just a couple minutes the reply from the active site came back, "Positive. The identified file is in the system. We are turning off the server and locking down."

When they finished the second team reported the same results. Zondra replied, "Great job. Secure the locations. The Orion's analysts will take over the processing."

**Orion Central  
>July 16, 2011<strong>

Morgan was almost jumping up and down, "We did it!"

Alex had watched the sequence, but had not heard all of the planning. "What?"

"Zondra and Orion took down KIP. The program is now isolated and as far as we could tell not located in one server," he looked at Alex, "not in one computer." Chuck had actually given him the simple explanation, "These data warehouses are like huge, like several football fields for some of them. They can hold several thousand computers. We figured that KIP was so big that the program would not reside in just one computer but several of them. So when the teams reported that they found one of the basic files to KIP in a server, just a big computer, we knew that we trapped KIP in one location. Now the analysts will dump the files and see if we can find the link to who controlled KIP."

Morgan turned the net back on, "Chuck, Sarah and Casey; Zondra has taken down KIP at both locations. Analysis is beginning."

**Unknown****Location  
>July<strong>**16,****2011**

There was a statue of an eagle on the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

The voice over the phone said, "Orion's team isolated the files."

The static sounding reply, "Copy."

_A/N__Please__leave__a__review._

_And__please__accept__my__apologies__for__holding__off__on__this__story.__Another__one__that__I__was__writing__began__to__sound__the__same__and__I__decided__to__change__the__ending__to__this__one.__Hope__you__enjoy.__Jimmy_


	17. Chapter 17 the Story

Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"You're a gift…"  
>Sarah<p>

"You can count on me…"  
>Chuck<p>

-Episode 4.24

Chapter 17—the Story

**Kent, UK  
>July 16, 2011<strong>

"Morgan, I got them. They got off at Canterbury. They are heading toward Mrs. Winterbottom's place. That's Hartley's old house." Casey waited for Morgan's reply.

Morgan came back, "I thought you said that the house was blown up?"

"Looks okay now." Casey decided then that he was going in, _'__The__mother__I__never__had.__Can__'__t__let__anything__happen__to__her.__'_ He slowed down and got the binoculars. "I'm going to the house."

Alex was still sitting there at the console with Morgan, "Dad be careful."

Casey grunted and headed down the road toward the house. He saw a little glint off a glass at the house. _'__Good.__She__must__be__checking__who__is__approaching__the__house.__'_ Casey parked his car behind Decker and Johansson's cars. He got out and went through the gate.

Going up to the door he was greeted by Mrs. Winterbottom, "Why Mr. Casey, how nice of you to come." She waved her hand around and said, "They've done a nice job, haven't they? Even got my primroses back." She saw him looking for the other two, "Oh, come in. Come in."

Casey walked in very cautiously. Decker and Johansson were sitting on the couch where he and Sarah sat last time. Mrs. Winterbottom was in there before him and put down their concerns, "Now, now gentlemen. Let me explain and then you can go your way."

Casey took a seat across from Decker. He watched as Decker put his hands on his knees. Johansson did the same. It was certainly a way to show your intentions. Casey did the same.

Mrs. Winterbottom smiled. "Well gentlemen, you may know each other but not what your part's are or have been." She looked at Decker and Casey, "Doctor Johansson did work with Steve and Hartley back on the original project. Early on, they decided that he would be the odd man out. They asked him to leave and go undercover to see if he could ferret out any one working against the project. Later after Hartley disappeared, he was asked to work with any one starting another Intersect. He was doing to things at that point, trying to find a way to reverse things in Hartley and help with insight on the progress of other projects. He and Steve were able to perfect it. The result was the device that Clyde used on my son and as I understand your friend, Chuck, too." She looked at Casey and saw him nod.

"Clyde has been our enforcer and was shadowing the Doctor to ensure no one followed him. Clyde also was in charge of putting the house back together. And I thank you, Sweet, for such a nice job."

She turned back to the Doctor, "Mr. Casey has been working with Steve's son for quite sometime." The Doctor nodded in recognition.

Then she turned back to Casey, "So what have you and your team accomplished so far?"

"Hum, before that, just whom do you work for?" Casey asked.

Mrs. Winterbottom was a bit surprised at the question and then answered, "Oh, I would imagine by now it would not disrupt things. We came together early after, what would you call it? Oh yes, things went sideways with Hartley." She reached in her pocket and brought out a cell phone. "Yes, by now John should be telling you friend Chuck."

**Senator Landis Office  
>Washington, D.C.<br>July 16, 2011 **

Landis smiled. "Now to answer your question." He leaned back, "Kathy said you would eventually get to me. I suspect Casey has caught up with Decker and Doc Johansson at Mrs. Winterbottom's. Right at Hartley's house. And if you have taken down KIP as in Orion's last report, then you have dispatched the opposition. You see a group of us formed during the build of Agent X. While Hartley agreed to be Agent X, we made preparations for the event that things could go wrong. Doc Johansson was our mole. He got into Fulcrum and was being recruited for the Ring. He eventually helped make that device that took the Intersect out of Hartley and you.

"Mary was already preparing to work with Volkoff when you happened to get one of Steve's downloads. She felt that she had to go through with it and that Steve would certainly be able to correct things soon. That did not happen. So, things were put in place to work a solution. Steve stayed with you until we figured he was more of a target than you were. After that we put people in place to watch over you and Ellie. First was the guidance counselor in high school, Mr. Thompson. Then, after you got out of high school, it was Bryce. We realized with Steve that when Flemming's test highlighted your capabilities that we had to do something." He shrugged his shoulders. "Then back at Burbank, well Andromeda threw a fit, but we put Agent Barnes in-place."

Chuck lost it at that point. Sarah wasn't far behind. "Jeff? Jeff Barnes is an agent?"

"Yes, remember the Missile Command award. He was placed there to find that code. At the time we thought high score would do it. Then after he won, we thought it wasn't in there. He also found the GLG receiver. If it hadn't been for Morgan, we would have had it contained. He helped on many occasions, he helped you catch up with the Ring and Shaw and helped take out a Ring agent with chloroform." Landis smiled, "He did put a few too many C4 packs around the Buy More. The CIA analysts could never figure why the building collapsed. Jeff really was hiding out in case the police traced something to him." Chuck and Sarah were smiling.

"Now the opposition. Most of it had infiltrated Volkoff Industries. Sarah was able to eliminate Riley. Most of the others Frost eliminated." He folded his hands, "Unless there are others identified from the databases of KIP, we believe that is the end of them."

Chuck asked, "Wow, that is quite a story. Does Mom know about this?"

The Senator shook his head, "No, not all the parts. Mrs. Winterbottom and Mrs. Barnes are probably the best sources." He stood up, "I am sorry but I have another meeting.

On the way out Chuck noticed a statue of an eagle on the desk. The plaque said, 'Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.'

_A/N Please leave a review. Hope you enjoyed. Can hardly wait for the new season to start. Happy Chuckleween. _


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